This time, Bruschi had some downtime
FOXBOROUGH -- Four weeks ago, it was a victory just to see stroke survivor Tedy Bruschi on the football field. He played nearly every down in his return against the Bills, going almost purely on adrenaline. But in his fifth game back, against the Chiefs Sunday, the second half found him on the sideline for a few plays.
After Bruschi missed a few tackles -- most notably on Larry Johnson -- in the first half, Monty Beisel and Chad Brown got to see increased time at inside linebacker alongside Mike Vrabel. Beisel and Brown estimated they spent five to six plays at the position, more than they had in the past few weeks. Brown said his time mostly came on third downs.
''We've got good players," Bruschi said. ''Monty played a little more, Chad played a little more, and that's just the way it went."
Despite that, Bruschi led the Patriots in tackles for the first time since returning to the lineup, piling up nine total (eight solo). Beisel had two in his limited time on the field. Brown did not record a stop.
''There's nothing personally going on with Tedy," said coach Bill Belichick. ''That's the way the situation came up in the game. That's the way the rotation was set up. Got to spread it out."
Lending his hands
Less than 24 hours after Chiefs safety Sammy Knight ended the Patriots' afternoon by picking off a pass intended for Tim Dwight, the New England receiver still seemed annoyed at himself for letting the ball glance off his hands with two minutes to go and the Patriots down by 10.''I was just trying to catch it, probably taking off before I had it," Dwight said. ''You've got to make plays like that. Tom [Brady] puts you in position to make plays. If we can get that, we've got a chance to score, maybe pull within 2. Any time the ball hits you, you've got to catch it. You expect to make that play."
After starting the season toward the bottom of the Patriots' list of receivers, Dwight has made his way up the roster with injuries to David Givens, Bethel Johnson, and Troy Brown. Against the Chiefs, he led the team with 76 yards on five catches, and took two end-arounds for 17 yards. Dwight is fifth on the team with 279 yards on 16 catches, for a 17.4-yard average.
''When you're fourth, fifth, or sixth on the list, and you have your top three guys go down, you've got to fill in," Dwight said. ''It's just the nature of the game."
Working through it
Rosevelt Colvin began to show some of the strain that comes with a 6-5 team that was expected to have more wins. ''I'm frustrated because I feel like we have a group of guys in the locker room that are talented," said Colvin. ''It's been proven that we can win games, not just with the players but with the coaching staff. We just need to attain a level of consistency that will help us better our position down the road. I'm very frustrated, but the best thing I can do for the situation is continue to do my job, continue to get better, [do] everything that is asked of me. Everybody else has to do the same for themselves." . . . Despite his un-Brady-like performance Sunday, the quarterback hit the 3,000-yard mark in Kansas City, giving him four straight seasons of at least 3,000 passing yards. Brady is on pace for 4,407 yards this season, which would be within striking distance of the team record (4,555), set by Drew Bledsoe in 1994. Bledsoe and Brady are the only Patriots quarterbacks to have consecutive 3,000-plus seasons . . . The game against the Chiefs marked Belichick's 100th as New England's head coach. He is 68-32, the best winning percentage and most total victories in franchise history. Mike Reiss of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 
