For the first time in the 2019 season, the New England Patriots find themselves in a must-win situation when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium in Week 14. No longer the No. 1 seed after losing to Houston in Week 13, New England will need to win to have a greater chance at securing home field advantage come January. Kansas City presents an explosive offense for a Patriots defense that let up 40 points the last time the Chiefs came to Foxboro in a 43-40 Week 6 win last season.
Here are six things that New England fans should about Kansas City before the two teams meet up Sunday.
1. As Patrick Mahomes goes so does the Chiefs offense.
What has been the key for opposing quarterbacks to find success against the Patriots vaunted defense? Possess a strong arm and a speedy pair of legs. In Week 9, Lamar Jackson led Baltimore past New England with 61 yards and two rushing scores. Last week, Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson threw three touchdown passes in a win over the Patriots. Watson’s known effective running game opened things up through the air.
It’s more of the same this week in Patrick Mahomes for the New England defense. Mahomes missed a pair of games earlier this season and has been effective on the ground since his return. Last week, he ran for 25 yards and averaged eight yards per carry to go with a rushing score. In Week 11, he finished with five rushes for 59 yards. Mahomes is more successful in the passing game when defenses have to factor in his ground game.
2. The Kansas City receiving unit is fast.
It’s not just Tyreek Hill that New England will need to slow down. Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, and Demarcus Robinson are all just as fast as Hill making this Chiefs receiving unit perhaps the fastest in the entire league.
Hill is the anchor of the offense, hauling in 38 receptions for 598 yards at a 15.7 yard-per-reception rate, the 15th best in the league, after missing time in September.
Of course, the Patriots will need to slow Hill down, but there are additional threats behind him. As evidenced by last week, New England continues to do a good job at preventing receivers from posting 100-plus yard performances. But it comes at a cost as opposing quarterbacks look elsewhere outside of their top targets. It will be key for the Patriots to focus in on the likes of Watkins, Hardman, and Robinson.
3. With Gronk retired, Travis Kelce is the best tight end in the game.
When Rob Gronkowski was an integral part of the New England offense there was a debate on who was the best tight end in the league – Gronk or KC’s Travis Kelce. Now that Gronk has retired, the debate is over and Kelce is clearly the league’s most effective tight end.
It will be very interesting to see how Bill Belichick goes about defending Kelce. If he decides to double team Kelce, things will open up that much more on the outside for Hill and Watkins. If he decides to leave a single man on Kelce, it will be easy for Kelce to prove why he is the best tight end.
Currently, Kelce leads the Chiefs in targets (100), receptions (68) and receiving yards (923).
4. There should be no problem in slowing down KC’s running game.
The Chiefs backfield is a crowded mess right now. Heading into Sunday’s matchup, Kansas City is averaging the ninth-fewest rushing yards at 94.5 per game with just 1,134 total yards through 12 games.
Injuries have played a part in that number as starter Damien Williams miss last week’s game vs. Oakland and is questionable for Sunday while backup Darrel Williams is on injured reserve.
If Damien Williams is ruled out, it will be veteran LeSean McCoy and backup Darwin Thompson operating the Chiefs ground game. McCoy is far removed from his prime years in Philadelphia and Buffalo and has just 410 rushing yards.
5. Will the Patriots offense finally turn things around?
The Kansas City defense is better than last year when it gave up 43 points to the Patriots in a 43-40 Week 6 loss before losing 37-31 in the AFC Championship last January.
Yet, the Chiefs defense is not that drastically better. Currently, they allow the eighth-most yards per game at 372.1 while they are ranked no. 16 in points allowed per game at 22.1.
This could be the week the Patriots offense finally turn things around, but that was said before last week’s loss to the Texans, who are right around the Chiefs in defensive production.
6. The Chiefs aren’t afraid of playing under the bright lights at Gillette Stadium.
Last season in Week 6, Kansas City nearly left Foxboro victorious after a huge second-half comeback, outscoring New England 31-19. But a Stephen Gostkowski walk-off field goal let the Patriots survive.
In 2017, the Chiefs stunned New England in the season opener at Gillette Stadium with a 42-27 Week 1 victory. In that game, Kansas City scored a decisive 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter that led to the win.
