The Chiefs come in off a solid 30-0 win over Houston on the road, and looked pretty good in the process, but the question must be asked: did the Chiefs look impressive because the Texans were so abominably bad, or does Andy Reid’s squad have a chance at going into Gillette and causing a pretty large upset?
Well, it’s hard to bet against the combination of Brady and Belichick come January, especially in the fortress that Gillette Stadium has become, and you’d be a brave person to bet against them going into this one, especially considering Brady gets one of his favourite and most dependable targets, Julian Edelman, back for this game. No doubt, Brady will be happy about that, having managed to guide a patchwork offense through the back half of the season, though the Pats did lose four of their last six after opening 2015 with ten straight wins.
There are holes in the Patriot squad, no doubt. Offensively, they were held to just 196 total yards against Miami in a 20-10 loss in the final game of the regular season, and you can bet Andy Reid and his coaching staff have been watching that film during the week!
Kansas City can really cause some problems up front for the Patriots. The unit, which will likely include Sebastian Vollmer (injured against the New York Jets in the second-last game of the regular season) charged with keeping Brady on his feet hasn’t been great at times this year, and they really need to have their best game of the season on Saturday afternoon or it’ll be a long day going against the likes of potent pass rusher Tamba Hali and excellent linebacker Justin Houston. Brady needs time to find his targets. Whether he gets it depends on the play of his D-line.
The game-long battle between the well-drilled Chiefs secondary, which is led by Marcus Peters (eight interceptions in the regular season, and two more against Houston) and the inspirational Eric Berry, against Brady’s offensive weapons, led by the imposing Rob Gronkowski. The big tight end is a nightmare match-up for just about every defense in the League, and if the Pats are going to eke out a win, you figure Gronk will need to have a huge game.
I have some concerns about the Chiefs offense. Alex Smith, a reasonable duel-threat quarterback, doesn’t get much support from his wide receivers, which means that most of his passes are going to be headed in the direction of star tight end Travis Kelce. Smith needs big plays from Jeremy Maclin, and needs stability in the run game.
The Chiefs backfield is missing the impressive Jamaal Charles, and the slack must be picked up by Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware. Whether they can find holes in the Patriots defense remains to be seen. It certainly won’t be as easy this week as it was against Houston. Patriots pass-rushing star Chandler Jones will make sure of that.
Prediction: I’ve got a feeling that the Chiefs defense can slow down Brady enough to keep the game close, but whether Alex Smith and company can take advantage of that and score enough points to pull out the upset is another thing entirely. I’ve got the Patriots by ten.
Join The Roar for live coverage of this AFC divisional round match-up from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts from 8:30am (AEDT) Sunday morning.
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