Five things to know about the Chiefs’ next opponent: New England Patriots
This game has been circled on the calendar since the Chiefs’ 2019 schedule was released.
A rematch of last season’s AFC Championship game will take place Sunday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where the Chiefs play the New England Patriots.
Looking for a good omen? The last time the Patriots lost at home against an AFC opponent: Sept. 7, 2017 against the Chiefs. And New England (10-2) is coming off a 28-22 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night. That dropped the Patriots into the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture.
Each week I take an early look at the Chiefs’ next opponent, and here are five things to know about the Patriots ahead of Sunday’s game, which is at 3:25 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS (Ch. 5):
1. Doing it with defense
The Patriots have the top-ranked scoring defense in the NFL (12.1), have allowed the fewest first downs per game (15.2), are second in total defense (258 yards per game) and second in yards per play (4.5).
Here are some of the quarterback ratings against the Patriots this season: 3.6 (Jets’ Sam Darnold), 24.0 (Bills’ Josh Allen), 64.2 (Dak Prescott), 79.2 (Browns’ Baker Mayfield).
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (107.7) had the best quarterback rating against New England this season until Sunday night. Houston’s Deshaun Watson completed 18 of 25 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns. His rating: 140.7.
This shows how the Patriots defense struggled Sunday:
2. Tom Brady
Lately, 42-year-old Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has played, well, like someone in the twilight of his career. Brady’s touchdown percentage (3.7) and yards per attempt (6.7) are the lowest of his career. His completion percentage (61.1%) is the lowest since 2013.
Over his previous three games, Brady has completed 51.2% of his passes for 732 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Three of those touchdowns came in the final 15:17 of Sunday night’s game when the Texans were well ahead.
NBC cameras caught Brady’s frustration during Sunday’s game:
Over their last three games, the Patriots have scored an average of 17.3 points.
3. The Post-Gronk Era
In past years, a subplot of a Chiefs-Patriots game has been the teams’ tight ends: Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski. They are two two of the best to play in the NFL.
But Gronkowski retired after last season, and the Patriots haven’t gotten much production out of their tight ends. Check out this graphic:
Wide receiver Julian Edelman is Brady’s top target. He has 82 receptions for 915 yards and five touchdowns. He leads the Patriots or is tied for the lead in catches, yards and receiving TDs.
Running back James White has 57 catches for 512 yards. NBC noted during Sunday night’s game that White leads all NFL running backs in receptions (293), yards (2,559) and touchdowns (20) since 2015.
White also has run the ball 53 times for 208 yards, while Sony Michel has 645 yards rushing. This was an interesting note during Sunday’s game:
4. The Chiefs have a winning record
The Patriots are 8-0 against teams with a record of .500 or worse this season. They are 2-2 against teams with a winning record. One of those victories came against the Steelers in the season opener, a 33-3 win. The other was a 16-10 victory at Buffalo.
5. Four kickers
Kai Forbath missed one of his two extra-point attempts Sunday night in his first game with the Patriots. Once a model of kicking consistency (two kickers from 1996-2018), New England has used four kickers this season.
Forbath signed last week after Nick Folk was released following an emergency appendectomy. Mike Nugent was released after missing three of his eight field-goal attempts. Stephen Gostkowski, who started the season, was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 2 because of a left hip injury.
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 10:33 AM.
