Some quick thoughts heading into Sunday’s game:
I am going to concentrate on the Chiefs defense this week. We all know how prolific Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs offense is. They have speed everywhere and their entire O Line is back. Travis Kelce is used in new and inventive measures as the number one TE weapon in the league.
According to Warren Sharp, the Chiefs turnaround on defense in the 2nd half of last season led the Chiefs to their Super Bowl appearance. They are led by stud DT Chris Jones. He is a one man wrecking crew and will be matched up against Shaq Mason. He can overpower Mason on the pass rush. Frank Clark at RDE is the pass rusher. Tanoh Kpassgon is a big bodied LDE but not much on the pass rush.
The secondary played Dime 33% of the time last season. That is related to the fact they were ahead a lot and the opposition abandoned the run game. S Tyrann Mathieu is the strength of the secondary. Bashaud Breeland is serving his final game of his substance abuse suspension. They are hurting at CB with rookie L’Jarius Snead put on IR this week. That puts the pressure on Antonio Hamiliton and Damien Wilson. Daniel Sorenson and Juan Thornhill play a lot because of the dime. I see KC playing a lot of zone defense to protect their CBs and because of the threat of Newton to run.
At LB they play Anthony Hitchens, a big FA signee in 2019 and rookie Willie Gay. Gay lasted until the 2nd round because of some off field issues.
The key to beating the Chiefs is not to settle for FG’s. Expect the Patriots to go on 4th down a lot. KC gave up 5.3 YPA in the run game last year. That goes right into the strength of the Patriots who average 5.1 per rush. Surprisingly, KC doesn’t pass on 1st down much.
Control the ball, limit the number of possessions KC has to score. Keep the game close with an opportunity to win at the end. Mahomes is a very good QB, but it took a perfect game from Russel Wilson, and that wasn’t nearly enough, for Seattle to beat the Patriots. I can’t see how the Patriots are 7 point underdogs. I believe the Patriots have a very good chance to beat KC.
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Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.
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