The Chiefs (8-4) will attempt to take the show on the road this Sunday as they take on the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
After an 8-0 start that saw the Patriots feasting on the dredges of the NFL, the team now sits at 10-2 and are coming off of a road loss to the Houston Texans. While the Chiefs must be mindful of the dominance typically displayed by the tandem of Belichick/Brady at Gillette Stadium, it appears they could be ripe for the picking.
5 reasons why the Chiefs beat the Patriots Sunday
- The Patriots offense is…struggling. You can see it in Tom Brady’s body language during each and every woeful performance. The weapons just aren’t there for Brady following the retirement of Rob Gronkowski and sideshow circus that may have ended Antonio Brown’s NFL career. 33-year-old Julian Edelman is the Brady’s most viable target and is battling through injuries. The running game has also suffered. Sony Michele is the only real thread carrying the ball as James White has been relegated to checkdown pass duty much of his career.
- The Chiefs are healthy. Relatively speaking that is. There are obvious concerns with the health at the running back position and questions about DE Frank Clark’s availability are still swirling. The Patriots are facing a Chiefs team coming off two division wins and are as healthy as they have been since week 2.
- The Chiefs offense has been very good on the road. The Chiefs are a fluky, nearly unfathomable loss to the Titans away from being unbeaten on the road this year. The offense has experienced its share of problems, no doubt, however there should be a fair amount of confidence that they can take the show on the road once again despite playing against one of the league’s best defenses. The Chiefs have averaged 417 yards of offense on the road this season vs. just 351 at home.
- Playoff seeding is still up in the air. A win over New England coupled with a Patriots loss to the Bills could catapult the Chiefs to the 2 seed if everything else goes according to plan. An argument can be made that the Chiefs are all but locked in to either the 3 or 4 but a win over a dominant conference rival and a potential six straight wins to the end the season would be massive for momentum heading into the playoffs.
- The Chiefs have a defense. No, it’s not necessarily a good one yet but it’s functioning. The Chiefs are now ranked 25th in total team defense (up six spots from a year ago) and noticeable improvements have been seen especially in the secondary where the team ranks 16th in the NFL against the pass. The Patriots’ offensive woes coupled with continued defensive improvement could go along way towards making this a lower-scoring game certainly than we saw during both meetings a year ago. If the Kansas City offense can solve the mystery that is this formidable defensive adversary, it will go a long way towards making believers out us all.
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