Patriots dont face a single team that had a previous Thursday night game (10 days rest). KC had two in a 3 week period...one being NE.

KC faces Arizona, who is on 17 days rest this week...coming off their bye+Thursday game. That's 30% of their schedule so far..

NE faces a team (Jets) coming off their bye CONVENIENTLY the same week they gets theirs...so not one game all year where an opponent has more rest then they do.

If I had the time, I would figure out how many teams have this luxury...if any.

NFL also gave KC it's bye the very last possible week (12)...and 3 of it's first 5 games against the top 3 teams in the AFC from 2017...two on the road.

Is it any wonder NE didn't get any penalties called...NFL was banking on KC being under .500 at that point. They didn't plan on "Big Dick" Mahomes putting a dent in their "Chargers at all costs" agenda...

That doesnt work. His OL is allowed to hold constantly. We see it every game they play against good DLs. You must get him off his spot by sending a 5th or 6th guy with pressure. It may not be effective every time but it will get him in 3rd and longs. Stack the box with 8 or 9 and blitz. Make him win the game with his arm. He's not that guy anymore. He's thrown 1 td in the last 2 games. Titans need to bring the house on him. He's regressing but everyone is still scared of him. They shouldnt be.

When he has Gronk, I'd be inclined to agree with you; hard to justify blitzing him.

But man...in cold weather if he doesn't have Gronk, I'd send pressure a lot. Sure, sometimes he'll get the ball out and you'll get stung, but sometimes you'll whack his zombie bones into that frozen turf and sooner or later he's gonna be a little wary of that at 40+ years of age.

And without Gronk to just pick out and hit, the processing isn't quite as easy for him. Hell, the Gronk v. Berry cripple-fight might even come out in our favor.

I mean your answer isn't wrong - getting there with 4 is ALWAYS the preferred course - against everyone. I mean hell, lets get there with 3. But that's not always realistic. If you're not getting to him with 4, send heat and send it often.

Sure but with the weapons they have now, that’s gonna be tough with as smart as he is.

I’m the end, you’ve gotta do it and just get there because the alternative is him slicing you up.

So much is gonna depend on where that possible game is at. If it’s in arrowhead, yeah I feel ok.

I don’t think we can go in foxboro

All I've seen are explanations of the systems for scheduling teams. Not for determining home/away. Granted, I haven't read all 19 pages.

How/when are those decisions made?

Well at least you got that going for ya.

Would be cool to see a defense do something so unconventional like this. Like a baseball defense doing the shift.

You mean Bill "Who was the last Cleveland Browns head coach to win a playoff game?" Belichick? :rolleyes:



Possibly. Only time will tell.

Keep preaching Blackop

I remember when everyone called you crazy, then the first half of the Steelers game happened, and then 0 penalties at NE happened.

Cheatriots sun is setting.

When? Years in advance. The system itself gets re-approved every few years, but the schedule system is set like 4 or 5 years in advance.

The in-division games, and other conference games are easy. 3 at home and 3 away for the in-division games, of course. The other confernece, there are 4 teams, so 2 are home and 2 are away, and then 4 years later they are flipped.

The other division and the "same finish in the same conference" are the ones that sometimes have whacky results, but it's a function of the system itself, not someone sitting there and making the conscious decision.

Let's look at the Chiefs in upcoming years, specifically 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The Chiefs play AT Baltimore in 2021. They are ALSO scheduled to play the winner of the AFC North from the prior year AWAY in EACH of 2020 and 2022. So guess what? If the Chiefs and Ravens both finish in the same place in each of 2019 and 2021, then you WILL play them on teh road three years in a row.

But it goes the other way too. In 2020 you WILL play the Patriots at Arrowhead. In 2021 and 2022, you will ALSO play the AFCE team that finished in the same seed the prior year. So if Brady and BB are still going and in first seed all those prior years, and the Chiefs are also first in the prior year, you will HOST the Patriots three years in a row.

Get it?

And that is enough of that ****ing topic. JFC....

Amnorix, is this a penalty?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I wonder if Travis Kelce was getting held on this play <a href="https://t.co/lYVQDhmRhw">pic.twitter.com/lYVQDhmRhw</a></p>&mdash; B Turn (@bturner23) <a href="https://twitter.com/bturner23/status/1051645406319403009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Incidental contact / NFL

I'll say again, NFL officials call everything they see, but only see what they want.

They didn't "see" it...

The refs certainly are NOT going to stop the Patriots. Any team that plays them is playing against both.