FOXBORO -- It was the kind of question that didn't have an explanatory all-encompassing response.
"We just sometimes," Duron Harmon said, "didn't play the ball the way it was supposed to be played."
"They just made more plays," Devin McCourty said.
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"I've never," Stephon Gilmore said, "seen no one that fast before…Fastest guy I've ever covered."
The question bouncing around that corner of the locker room? What was the difference between the first and second halves for the Patriots defense?
They went into the half up 24-9 having made key red-area stops, but they finished the game having allowed 40 points and 352 yards passing in a last-second 43-40 win.
New England Patriots
While the Patriots had been effective at limiting explosive plays this season going into Sunday night -- they were fourth in the NFL in explosive plays allowed -- they couldn't stop the flow of chunk plays in the final 30 minutes. There were lapses in communication. There were technique issues. And as Gilmore referenced, there was Tyreek Hill, whose speed burned the Patriots for three scores in the final two quarters.
Still, because there was not necessarily one solitary issue that consistently plagued the Patriots defense throughout its forgettable second half, we went to those who were on the field for a play-by-play explanation.
SCRAMBLE GONE WRONG
Kareem Hunt's 67-yard touchdown was the first blow from Patrick Mahomes after the break. It was a classic representation of the young quarterback's special skill set as he broke the pocket, bubbled backwards as he kept his eyes down the field, and he found his running back streaking down the sideline with Jason McCourty chasing him.
"We were in a zone coverage," McCourty said, "but once they scramble and the play breaks down, that's where we just have to get to a guy. For me, Hunt was my guy to get to. I got to him and just didn't do a good enough job of sticking with him.
"Mahomes' arm strength to roll out and put that thing on the money, I gotta do a better job of just getting there and making that play and getting us off the field on third down."
McCourty was initially supposed to cover the short area of the field along the sideline but then was supposed to plaster to Hunt. He got close about midway through the play but then slowed down when years of experience likely told him the quarterback wasn't going to be able to put enough on the football to get it over his head after Mahomes sapped himself of a good chunk of yardage behind the line of scrimmage.
"When most quarterback scramble but bubble, you're happy as a defense," said Devin McCourty, who was initially the deep defender on that play but plastered to a receiver once Mahomes rolled out. “ 'Alright he just made his throw 10-12 yards deeper.' But he has a strong arm that can work down the field and he's able to make a tough throw. But that's how it goes. We just gotta do a better job of finding all those guys when we are in zone."
RUNNING (BEHIND) THE HILL
Later it was Devin McCourty who was beaten in coverage by Hill. With Harmon playing as a deep safety over the top, it appeared as though the Patriots wanted to dedicate multiple sets of eyes to Travis Kelce. That left McCourty one-on-one with Hill streaking across the middle of the field.
Even with just 14 yards of real estate to work with, it was enough for Hill to win.
"You got [No.] 10 with a lot of room, it's tough to get to him," McCourty said. "Sometimes football just comes down to making a play and they made some. We made more early. Kind of made enough tonight, but obviously want to do better than we did in the second half."
FIGHTING TRAFFIC
Hill's next score didn't look like it was intended for him. He was freed up at the line because of a pick-play design from the Chiefs that had Jonathan Jones bump into Devin McCourty near the line of scrimmage.
It was Hunt who appeared to be the intended target, but Hill was free enough to run underneath Mahomes' floater.
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"It's hard when the ball's on the two," McCourty said. "You back up three yards deep in the end zone and he just runs and stops, he's open. They did a good job. I think the ball was intended for Hunt, but he ended up in a good spot. I got good hands on him. Me and J. Jones kind of ran into each other. Once you do that, you're not catching up to him."
LITTLE HELP?
Hill's final score of the night came on one 75-yard shot.
The coverage appeared to be Cover 3, where there likely should have been three deep defensive backs. Harmon ended up being the player closest to Hill when he caught the pass, but his reaction to a question after the game seemed to indicate there was a blown coverage.
Was he expecting help on the defensive right side of the field? He smiled, knowing he wouldn't get into the details of the coverage even if he wanted to.
"It was just a play," he said. "He got there. I gotta find a way as a free safety to get him down."
It was a play that seemed to combine elements of Hunt's touchdown and Hill's previous big plays. Hill's speed was too much for one defender, and the Patriots scramble-drill rules might've put them in position to make a difficult choice.
Mahomes stepped up in the pocket to avoid the Patriots rush before his big-hitter to Hill, and when he did, it looked like Jason McCourty jumped Kelce's shorter route -- perhaps with the team's scramble-drill rules in mind.
But had McCourty been responsible for the deep third of the field, he would've been in position to helped cut off Hill's route before he got to the edge on Harmon and scampered up the sideline.
"Fastest guy in the NFL," Harmon said. "It was a tough angle for myself, but I still gotta find a way to get the guy down. I just gotta run straight to the pylon. Tough play right there."
"We just gotta do a better job on some of those big plays and scramble plays," Devin McCourty said. "We knew they were good. They're the type of offense, we know they're explosive. Going up early in the first half wasn't going to make them say, 'We got no chance to come back.' You take away some of the plays where we gave it to them in one play, we're better off, but that's how these games go sometimes against a really good offense."
McCourty added: "That's how it goes . . . They scheme it up where you're trying to chase [No.] 10 down and he has an open run. There's times there's good calls where we had him surrounded in a certain formation so that's the tough thing. Sometimes in the red area those go different ways. We just gotta do a better job of winning those."
The Patriots were good inside the red zone -- and particularly within their own 25 -- through the first half. They forced a pair of field goals from their own 24, and they made a stop at their own six to force another kick. Those are four-point plays that ended up being significant to the game's final.
They also had a seven-point play when Harmon intercepted Mahomes in the end zone at the end of the second quarter.
"We didn't give up touchdowns," Harmon said. "Had them get three rather than seven. That's four points right there. They were what, two-for-five [in the red zone]? That's technically 12 points. If we didn't get those stops, that's 52-43, that's not enough to win. I'm glad we were able to get stops. We worked hard at the red zone all week."
Though Devin McCourty acknowledged he and his teammates in the secondary were on the scene for too many explosive plays late, they'll all try to take the good with the bad this week as they prepare for the Bears in Week 7.
"I think," he said, "we kind of learn here, 'This is why this play worked well, this is why this one didn't.' It's not just one thing. It's a lot of things. Sometimes you walk away like, 'Dang this call was better. When we ran this call it was good. This one not as much, this call we gotta do this instead of that.' It always comes down to what worked what didn't work, but you always watch the good and the bad."
Depending on what half they're watching, there was plenty of each they put on tape Sunday night.