01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 29, 2005

BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Twenty-four hours did nothing to heal the wounds inflicted on the New England Patriots by the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Arrowhead Stadium.

At least not for Patriots' coach Bill Belichick. Not yesterday as he met with media in the wake of Sunday's 26-16 defeat that was worse than the score indicated.

Belichick was even more reticent about answering questions and providing insights than normal, and that's saying a lot for the taciturn coach who has guided the Patriots to three Super Bowl triumphs over the previous four seasons.

Yesterday, after viewing tapes of the loss, which dropped the Pats to 6-5, Belichick, still reeling personally from the passing of his father a little over a week ago, was no more pleased with his team than he had been Sunday.

"Too many mistakes and not good enough execution, just not good enough football early in the game," said Belichick of his Patriots, who fell behind, 7-0, on the Chiefs' first drive of the game and trailied, 19-3, at the half.

"Even though there were some positives along the way, there were certainly too few of them, and too few of them early to really make it competitive enough and to really give ourselves a chance [to win] at the end. We just have to find a way to play better than that. Play better and coach better, just do a better job."

Unfortunately for New England, which once again turned in a feeble effort defensively, the problems went beyond that side of the ball. Quarterback Tom Brady suffered through an uncharacteristically poor game, tying a career-high with four interceptions, three of which were the results of high throws.

Brady, though, was asked to take a lot upon his shoulders in the wake of the Pats' porous defense. The Chiefs waltzed their way down the field for a touchdown on a nine-play, 66-yard march the first time they got their hands on the ball, putting New England in a quick 7-0 hole.

The deficit grew larger because of Brady's two first-half interceptions, but it could have been worse. New England kept the Chiefs out of the end zone, but they managed to kick four field goals, adding up to their 19-3 halftime advantage.

The red-zone defense received a grudging, if lukewarm-sounding measure of praise from Belichick.

"It was somewhat of a positive," said Belichick. "[It was] definitely overridden by the 26 points that were given up, but it could have been more."

Linebacker Tedy Bruschi agreed with the coach's overall sentiment.

"We held them to field goals at critical times, and that was good," said Bruschi. "But you look at the points on the board. We don't want to allow points at all."

While Brady and the offense were trying to play catchup, Kansas City quarterback Trent Green hooked up with Dante Hall for a 52-yard TD bomb over Ellis Hobbs and Mike Stone early in the third quarter.

The Chiefs tallied points on six of their first seven drives, and wound up with a net total of 420 yards of offense -- 112 rushing and 308 passing. The Pats had trouble stopping the run, generating a pass rush or defending the Kansas City receivers, notably All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez (4 catches, 63 yards), which basically has been a season-long theme, tumbling the two-time defending champs to the bottom or near it in most of the league's defensive statistics.

Neither Belichick nor the few players available to speak to the media yesterday were about to single out any one area as the reason for the defensive misery. They are all in this together.

"Team defense is team defense," said Belichick. "Everything is interrelated. Everything affects everything else to a degree. Everybody has their own job to do and they just have to do it the best they can and do it better -- playing, coaching, all of it. There's still an overall defensive system in place. There are certainly ramifications from the defensive line to the secondary and vice versa and all the players in-between."

A good pass rush, for instance, could help out the Pats' young secondary.

"If the rush gets to the quarterback, that makes it easier for them to cover. But if the rush doesn't get there, they have to cover longer," said linebacker Rosevelt Colvin. "That's the way it is. It's team defense. Sometimes we're going to get a lot of pressure [on the QB], sometimes we're not. Sometimes that's not in the [defensive game-plan] scheme."

Frustration, though, can't set in, says Bruschi, mindful that the team still leads its weak division by two games with five games remaining, including a Sunday [4:15 p.m.] home contest against the struggling New York Jets.

"I'm frustrated because we lost," said Bruschi. "But no matter how you lose, you have to focus on the next game. There's nothing you can do about that [loss]. You have to try and get better for the next game."

So it's back to the drawing board for the Patriots as they try to find the answers to their deficiencies before it's too late.

"I don't think it's any one thing," said Belichick. "I don't think there's any one magic wand that needs to be waved. It's just, collectively, we have to do a better job."