Let's talk about the Patriots

[TLO]

The garbage known as the Oakland Raiders have been disposed of. Time for a real opponent.

It's the ****ing Patriots.

Patriots open as early 4 point favorites.

Discuss.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by CrookedTrump

Why would 70,000 Chiefs fans show up at Arrowhead to watch the Pats vs Ravens?

because your mother is a whore

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by New World Order

Yep

They are going to try to run up the A-gap and PA us to death.

They aren’t going to have much luck running the A gaps on us.

[Hammock Parties]

FRANK'S GOING

pic.twitter.com/biXtqH5Nbp

— Frank Clark (@TheRealFrankC_) December 7, 2019

[Mahomes_Is_God]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

FRANK'S GOING

pic.twitter.com/biXtqH5Nbp

— Frank Clark (@TheRealFrankC_) December 7, 2019

To watch the game from the sideline?

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

FRANK'S GOING

pic.twitter.com/biXtqH5Nbp

— Frank Clark (@TheRealFrankC_) December 7, 2019

MJ scored 38 in the Flu Game.

I expect 3 sacks and 8 total tackles from Frank Clark tomorrow.

[scho63]

I have been this eager to watch a game in a while.

[RobertWeathers]

Originally Posted by BossChief

They aren’t going to have much luck running the A gaps on us.

KC is 29th in the NFL in run D in A and B gaps (4.99 ypc allowed) but your run d has improved. I'll give you that. Pennel and Saunders give you a chance but provide zip of a pass rush. Nnadi is ok.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/dl/2019

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by CasselGotPeedOn

Expect AT LEAST 2 drive killing OPI's called against us. Meanwhile NE will get called for like 2 penalties all game....

Guaranteed

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Okafor and Tanoh are both better than Speaks for sure.

I am kinda concerned about outside rush if Frank can't go though.

I hope Frank can go, but Brady negates most of the outside rush by getting rid of it anyhow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chris Meck]

Moving Pennel, Nnadi, Saunders and Jones around inside, crossing and stunting should give the Pats fits. It's important that Brady not get a real good look there pre-snap.

I think you bracket Edelman with Honey Badger plus a corner on every play; and you rotate and disguise that.

I'd put another corner on White; sometimes Fuller, sometimes Ward perhaps. Mix and match the coverages there.

None of the other WR's scare me.

I'd blitz the **** out of Brady in those A and B gaps especially. Get him quick before he's got time to pick us apart. Blitzing those gaps will **** up their run game too.

I'd make him beat us with Sanu.

[crayzkirk]

It the Patriots can scheme away Hill and Kelce, the Chief can scheme away Eddleman and White...

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Darwin Thompson needs to have a big day. Make the Patsies pull their safeties up.

[KChiefs1]

Chiefs Game Plan:
Thanks to Texans, KC has a blueprint for how to beat the Patriots
By
Seth Keysor

The Kansas City Chiefs head to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday to take on the New England Patriots in a matchup that has turned into somewhat of a rivalry of late. The two teams faced off in both the regular season and the playoffs last year, with both games coming down to the wire in favor of the Patriots.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been stymied by Patriots coach Bill Belichick more than anyone else in the league, with the first half of both contests against the Patriots leaning heavily in favor of New England. Both times, however, Mahomes and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid found answers and were able to put up 30-plus points after the half.

The Chiefs are fighting to stay in contention for a No. 2 seed and need a win Sunday for that to be even a remote possibility. The Patriots are trying to hang on to their spot after dropping two of their last four games following an 8-0 start. However, New England still controls its fate even if it loses to Reid and Co., so an argument can be made that they have less to play for than Kansas City.

Because the Chiefs and the Patriots have faced off multiple times in the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to review New England’s film more than most teams. While they have an imposing defense and are more opportunistic on offense than the current narrative, there are some cracks in the foundation that the Chiefs can exploit. With that in mind, here are a few things I’ll be watching for Sunday.

Taking away Brady’s toys

The Patriots’ offense and the Chiefs’ defense are both very different this year than last. Kansas City’s D has improved a great deal, while New England’s offense lost Rob Gronkowski and has struggled to find playmakers who consistently win matchups. Losing fullback James Develin to injury has hurt them a great deal, as he (along with Gronkowski) was central to last season’s punishing ground game.

Receiver Julian Edelman and running back James White have been Tom Brady’s most dependable targets, with newcomer Mohamed Sanu still working his way into the offense despite nursing a lingering ankle injury. Last week, the Texans dared the Patriots to beat them in the passing game with anyone else, bracketing Edelman and assigning a secondary player to cover White out of the backfield rather than a linebacker.

The Texans are able to play straight man across the board here with cornerback Bradley Roby on White and Edelman bracketed, and no one else is able to get open.

The Chiefs have an exceptional “robber-style” safety in Tyrann Mathieu, and having him patrol the intermediate and shallow zones near Edelman would go a long way toward removing Brady’s options. Safety Daniel Sorensen has found a role covering running backs out of the backfield of late and should be able to discourage throws to White, or that role could fall to one of the Chiefs’ cornerbacks. By ensuring those players are removed from the equation, the Chiefs should be free to play a lot of man coverage elsewhere and free up rushers to go after Brady.

Bringing the heat on Brady

Brady is obviously one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league, and his pocket presence is excellent. However, he’s a subpar athlete at the position and no longer possesses an elite arm. If teams are able to play effective coverage without committing seven guys in coverage and bring extra rushers, they’ve been able to get pressure on him quickly at times this season.

Here, the Texans play aggressive man coverage and threaten pressure from multiple defenders. It’s worth noting that they did this despite the Patriots being spread out with receivers all over the field. Because Houston wasn’t afraid of those matchups, they left cornerbacks and safeties on islands and went after Brady immediately. Linebacker Zach Cunningham makes sure to give White a shove out of the backfield and the pressure is home before Brady can find any open receivers.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves to draw up blitzes from his safeties and slot cornerbacks, and he uses his linebackers liberally in that area as well. If the Chiefs can find ways to get pressure on Brady, he has shown a propensity for forcing throws more than he did in the past, putting the ball at risk for an interception.

The Texans don’t blitz here but are able to cover well and eventually get some pressure. Brady makes an ill-advised throw deep to Edelman despite almost no chance of a completion. What should be an interception is dropped and the Patriots get a break.

If Brady is forced to throw the ball to stay in the game, the Chiefs can do a lot to make his life miserable with a more limited group than he has had in years. Of course, that means the Chiefs’ offense will have to put up points, and that has been no easy task this season against New England.


Beating the Patriots’ blitzing/pressure

This has been a point of emphasis for Kansas City since last year’s AFC Championship Game. The Patriots have had success in the past keeping Mahomes and the offensive line guessing and bringing quick pressure while covering well enough on the back end to prevent the aggressive looks from being exploited. Mahomes often had to play superhero football to make the offense move.

The Chiefs need to be ready for these blitzes from New England and, once again, should look to the Texans’ example to see how to approach them.

Houston ran a number of routes designed to beat man coverage and get open across the middle of the field quickly against the Patriots, taking advantage of their speed at receiver and the wide swaths of space left open by Cover-0 looks. The Chiefs have even more speed in their playmaker group and should be able to do something similar, understanding that they’ll likely face press coverage at the line of scrimmage for most of the game.

Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman will be crucial here. The Patriots will likely focus their attention on making contact with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill early and often while devoting extra defenders to them. They might also utilize All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Kelce in order to dedicate extra attention to Hill, a tactic they’ve used with success in the past. If that happens, the Chiefs’ other playmakers must show they can win one-on-one matchups against lesser defenders. Hardman deserves more snaps and would be an ideal piece for the Chiefs to use on drags and crossers, as he’s too fast for any defender to run with for longer than a few strides.

The Patriots also continue to bring pressure from different angles better than almost any other team in the league.

The Patriots gave the Chiefs a lot of problems pre-snap by bringing pressure from various places last year. They also were able to continuously beat the Chiefs’ offensive line using various stunts/twists, which is problematic for Kansas City considering they’ve continued to struggle with those things this season.

If the Chiefs aren’t able to deal with the Patriots’ movement and blitzes, it could again fall on Mahomes to make plays on his own Sunday, and Kansas City’s offense will likely stall at times without an all-world performance. If that happens, the Patriots will be able to take advantage of the Chiefs 30th-ranked (by DVOA) run defense and grind the game to a halt in the second half. If the Chiefs deal with these issues in similar fashion to the Texans and force New England to pass, it’s doubtful the Patriots will be able to keep pace.

Using the running backs in space

Reid is well known for using his running backs in the passing game through a variety of routes and screens. With Damien Williams injured and Darrel Williams out for the season, LeSean McCoy, Darwin Thompson and the newly signed Spencer Ware are the likely running backs in the rotation Sunday. Both McCoy and Ware have shown themselves to be capable receivers at the pro level, and Thompson flashed as a receiver when given the opportunity during the preseason.

The Patriots’ use of man coverage makes them vulnerable to having linebackers in space against running backs. While New England’s linebackers are very good, they aren’t fast and can be exploited in the open field if they must cover for any extended period of time. The Texans took advantage of this with Duke Johnson multiple times.

It’s worth noting that the Patriots are up front in showing their pressure here. That puts the linebacker right at the line of scrimmage and with his momentum going the wrong way to cover Johnson. It’s an easy win for the Texans as long as Deshaun Watson can extend the play for a moment.

I’ve already written that Thompson needs more playing time, and this would be a perfect matchup for the Chiefs to exploit if the Patriots are aggressive at the line of scrimmage. McCoy has been productive in limited touches as well, provided he holds on to the football. Reid is excellent at using motion to force defenses to expose their coverage and then use rub routes (or picks) to free up running backs in space.

It may seem counter-intuitive to send the running backs out of the backfield against a team that likes to blitz, but if Mahomes can stay upright, it could result in big plays for Kansas City.

This game will serve as a litmus test for the Chiefs now that they are finally healthy and have had some time together as a group. If the Chiefs are able to implement a game plan to take advantage of the weak spots the Patriots have shown, they should be able to win on the back of their superior offense. If not, it will be tough to stop New England from taking control of the game in the fourth quarter with their run game and aggressive defense. The opportunities will be there, but Kansas City will have to play a complete game on both sides of the ball — the last time they did that was in Week 3 — to take advantage of them. If they do, it will be much easier to see them running the table and contending for a bye week.

[KChiefs1]

Chiefs vs Patriots: Game Preview
By
Matt McMullen

It was nearly a year ago that these two teams met with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line.

The Kansas City Chiefs rallied to score 24 points in the fourth quarter, forcing overtime, but the New England Patriots found the end zone on their next drive and the rest is history.

It was an instant classic between a pair of teams that have gone head-to-head in some heavyweight contests over the years, and on Sunday, the Chiefs and Patriots will add another chapter to one of the league's top budding rivalries.


This will mark the sixth time the two squads have played since 2014, with New England edging Kansas City in each of the last two games - both of which took place last season - by a combined nine points. The Chiefs last beat the Patriots back in 2017 in Foxborough behind a 42-point performance on offense and also defeated New England on Monday Night Football at Arrowhead in 2014.



Each matchup has provided plenty of thrills - from 142.2 decibels of sound booming throughout Arrowhead to wide receiver Tyreek Hill's three-touchdown game in 2017 - and that shouldn't be a surprise. In fact, the Patriots (84) and Chiefs (73) lead the AFC in victories since 2013. New England is responsible for the most wins in the NFL during that span while Kansas City ranks third, checking in just behind Seattle (74).

Additionally, Sunday's coaching matchup between the Chiefs' Andy Reid and New England's Bill Belichick will mark the first meeting between two coaches who each own 200+ regular-season victories since Don Shula and Tom Landry went head-to-head in 1987.

Simply put, these two teams - and their coaches - are plenty familiar with one another.

"I think they know us, and we know them. You get in and you battle. We've played them quite a few times here over the last few years," said Head Coach Andy Reid. "It just comes down to execution on both sides of the ball and on special teams."

Kansas City has consistently executed offensively better than just about anyone else against the Patriots lately, averaging 34.8 points-per-game over the course of the last five meetings - the best mark league-wide versus New England - and they'll look to keep that trend going this go-around against one of the top defenses in the NFL.



The Patriots are yielding a league-best 12.1 points-per-game - surrendering more than 14 points just twice - under the direction of Belichick, who is considered by many to be the greatest defensive mind in the history of the game due in large part to his ability to change schemes from game to game.

"When you play Bill and the Patriots, you're going to get something different every week," Reid said. "That's where you bank on knowing your scheme and fundamentals, knowing your players and how they play."

"They're a team that's going to have stuff that we didn't necessarily prepare for because they're going to do things they haven't done in maybe two or three years," quarterback Patrick Mahomes added. "We've watched the tape and looked at everything they can possibly do, but whenever we get these unscouted looks, it's about me finding the best way to get us into the best play and not take these negative plays while keeping the offense moving."



Mahomes has performed well in his two career outings against New England, tossing seven touchdowns to just two interceptions while posting a 113.2 passer rating despite ultimately coming up short in both contests, and as effective as the Patriots' defense has been this season, they've struggled lately against top-tier competition.

The Baltimore Ravens tallied 37 points against New England back in Week 9 and just last Sunday, the Houston Texans found the end zone four times as they dealt the Patriots their second loss of the year.

It's a recipe the Chiefs will aim to replicate on Sunday.

"I think the biggest thing was when they had their opportunities, they hit them. I think that's the big thing," Mahomes said. "They're not going to give us a lot of opportunities - they're a very good defense and very sound with what they do. It's about taking what's there and when you get the big shot or the big play, you hit that and score touchdowns when you do."

Conversely, the Chiefs' defense has its sights on slowing down Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady and a New England attack that's struggled of late. In fact, the Patriots are averaging just 18 points-per-game over their last four contests and have been outscored by nearly two touchdowns in that span.



Though regardless of their difficulties on offense lately, Kansas City isn't taking New England - world champions in three of the last five seasons - lightly, especially after falling by the narrowest of margins in the AFC Championship Game last January.

"I feel like we're a better team than we were last year defensively. We're stronger and I think we learned from our mistakes against them," said defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi. "Coming into this week, we have a bigger chip on our shoulder and we're ready to play this game."

That means containing wide receiver Julian Edelman - the Patriots' top weapon in the passing game with 82 catches for 915 yards and five touchdowns on the year - and tailback James White, who has 720 yards from scrimmage this season.



If the Chiefs can do that defensively - maintaining the momentum they've built over the unit's last two outings against Los Angeles and Oakland - while executing the league's third-best scoring offense and limiting mistakes, Kansas City has as good a shot as any to end the Patriots' 18-game winning streak at home.

The Chiefs have Super Bowl aspirations, and as the old adage goes, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. New England has been just that for decades, and with the homestretch of the season underway, the Chiefs have a shot to prove that they belong in that conversation.

"We have to come prepared, and I think we definitely will be," said wide receiver Sammy Watkins. "I feel like we're going to play the best game that we've played, and I can't wait."

Catch the Chiefs and Patriots on Sunday at 3:25 CT on CBS.

[Hammock Parties]

Literally all the Chiefs have to do to get over their bugaboo with this team is:

1. Not throw dumb INT
2. Block stunts
3. Cover Edelman

That's it. That's all that ****ed us up last year. Gronk is gone, Dee Ford's dumbass is gone.

We got this.