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The New England Patriots brought the Kansas City Chiefs’ 11-game winning streak and their season to an end on Sunday with a 7-point win, booking their spot in the AFC Championship game.
It’ll be the fifth consecutive year that the Patriots have appeared in the AFC’s deciding match, with tomorrow’s game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers to determine their opponent.
Final score
New England Patriots 27
Kansas City Chiefs 20
The New England Patriots welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to the north-east, with the winner going on to play in the AFC Championship Game for a chance to represent the conference in Super Bowl 50. Join The Roar for live coverage of this AFC divisional match-up from 8:35am (AEDT).
The Chiefs come in off a 30-0 win over Houston on the road, but did they look impressive because the Texans were so abominably bad, or does Andy Reid’s squad have a chance at causing an upset?
It’s hard to bet against the combination of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick come January, especially in the fortress that Gillette Stadium has become, and you’d be a brave person to bet against them, 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 offence 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 Patriots 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 Reid and his coaching staff have been watching that film during the week!
Kansas City can cause 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 or it’ll be a long day going against the likes of potent pass rusher Tamba Hali and excellent linebacker Justin Houston.
There will be a game-long battle between the well-drilled Chiefs secondary, 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 defence in the league, and if the Pats are going to eke out a win, Gronk needs a huge game.
I have some concerns about the Chiefs offence. 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 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 defence 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
The Chiefs defence 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.
Patriots by 10.
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