I waited.. But you can analyze this one as a fan or as a handicapper
i'm a homer but think the pats handle the chiefs pretty easily....yes the pats finished the season poorly but the only game they were out played all year or at least were out of was the miami game and they obviously did not care one bit if they won that game
If they did not care, Tom Brady would not have been in the game. Keep holding on to this argument. They cared. Their vanilla plan backfired.
....prior to that game they played in several games that they were very injured in and didn't look great but were still in those games till the end
2-4 last 6. Win vs. Houston, check the offensive stats. Awful. Injuries or not, there is no evidence that the team you saw in Week 1 will be out there tomorrow. Lest we forget how important Dion Lewis was.
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.......prior to the injuries they were clearly the very best team in the league with only zona and caro in the same class.
said every good team ever who had injuries. Shit happens. No relation to this game
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..........conversely kc is riding an 11 game win streak but really didn't play anyone during that run....kudos to kc for the run but if macklin is out how are they going to score against the pats d with everyone back.
How many teams had an 11 game win streak this year? Two. One of those (Carolina) had the easiest schedule in the league. They beat the teams in front of them. Did anyone else? No. And while we are at it. Let's check the SOS for KC vs. NE... Not even close. They played 8 games against the AFC South and NFC East. Give me a break. As for Maclin? They said the same about Jamaal Charles. How ever will the Chiefs score? They proceeded to become the #1 rushing attack in the league and scored 30 5 times and 29 once. They will score enough with short passing and running down NE's throat.
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..........pats should get back to scoring 30 points and kc will be held to 3 scores......31-13 type game
I truly do not know (without D or ST TDs) how NE would score 30.
And why is that....
- A number of guys returning untested from injury
- Where does NE get the majority of their passing yards? Between the numbers. Since Week 7, between the numbers, KC- 3 TD's 18 Interceptions... Not a misprint
- NE O-Line.. Serious issues here against a pass rush that has 6 different guys with at least 4 sacks.
- Every site that uses advanced stats/metrics (538, Football Outsiders, Sagarin) indicates that the Chiefs are actually the BETTER team.
- The same metrics indicate that the KC offense is as efficient as New England's (but but but. Alex Smith can't throw, etc..)
- See earlier stats about teams coming off road win in Round 1
- Since 2002, team with better strength of schedule has covered 73% of the time in the playoffs. When there is a disparity of more than 10 spots in traditional SOS (Chiefs 6, NE 19), it becomes 85% cover and 23-4 SU
Why New England can and should win?
- Tom Brady
- Bill Belichick
- Gilette Stadium
I have been listening to sports talk up here just to punish myself for a week. Until Gronk has had some issues, it was essentially the Pats are going to show up and breeze to a win. They are the home team with quite the pedigree. They should win this game. I do not see them covering this game. This, to me is the de facto AFC Championship game.
GL to all and sorry for long post and long quotes