The Pats have been in BIG games every year. Tom E. breaks it down for us.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the best team in the NFL through five games.
And -- instead of coming to Foxboro to further flatten the roadkill the Patriots appeared on their way to becoming -- the Chiefs will face a team in full.
It’s Bill Belichick with 10 days to prepare. Patrick Mahomes channeling
Kurt Warner circa 2000 for an offense . Tom Brady with a purpose. Andy Reid with every kind of offensive toy he could possibly want to drive a bendy defense to its breaking point.
The Chiefs are fresh off their demolition of the Jaguars (now
there’s a team that bought right into its own hype). They hung 30 on Jacksonville and were up 23-0 before winning 30-14. The Patriots virtually couldn’t move against Jacksonville in Week 2.
We have all week to highlight the matchups and incorrectly predict what will happen. So let’s table that for now.
Instead, let’s take a bird’s eye view of this and realize that Kansas City isn’t the greatest regular-season challenge the Patriots will face, just the latest.
This game is no bigger than last year’s Week 15 game at Pittsburgh when the Steelers were 11-2, the Patriots were 10-3 and the loser was destined to be on the road for the AFC Championship. As it turned out, the Steelers gagged in the Divisional Round, but it was still an amazing game.
In 2016, it was the Seahawks on a Sunday night.
In 2015, it was the Colts at Indy post-Deflategate on a Sunday night. And then it was the Chris Harper game at Denver on a Sunday night when the Patriots were 10-0.
In 2014, it was the Bengals on a Sunday night after the Chiefs demolished New England six days earlier. And later that season it was at Green Bay for a Brady-Aaron Rodgers dance.
In 2013, it was the Return of Welker game against Peyton Manning and the Broncos when the Patriots erased a 24-0 deficit and won in overtime after taking the wind. On a Sunday night
In 2012, it was the Ravens in the replacement ref game on a Sunday night. And it was the Texans in varsity jackets on a Monday night.
That’s eight times in six seasons we’ve geared up for regular-season games that were supposed to be epic showdowns and generally were.
Sometimes those games have been harbingers of things to come. Sometimes they were just signposts. Always, they’ve been memorable because of who the Patriots have been and what their opponent is trying to become.
Sunday night, it’s the Chiefs turn to take a shot at the crown. The way things are going so far (I know: it’s dangerous to use recent history as fodder for future predictions), this may not be the only time in 2018 their paths cross.
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/patriots-vs-chiefs-will-be-latest-greatest-challenges
