2016 AFC Divisional Playoff Preview: Kansas City At New England
Saturday, Jan. 16, 4:35 p.m. ET (CBS)
Commentators: Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
The first game of the Divisional playoff round takes place between the 11-5 Kansas City Chiefs and the 12-4 New England Patriots. Vegas has currently made the Patriots 5 point home favorites. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why each team can pull off the victory.
WHY Kansas City Will Win:
- Vegas Likes The Chiefs
Want to look smarter than your friends when it comes to sports? Take a look at what Vegas has to say. According to Oddsshark.com, Kansas City is actually predicted to win let alone cover the spread. Most of the gambling web sites actually offer similar opinions. Not only are the Chiefs predicted to win but to win by more than a field goal. Now of course Vegas is never 100 percent right but they are usually pretty accurate. Those casinos didn’t build themselves right? Of course 3 points is normally given to the road team in any sort of point spread and places even more importance during postseason play. Then again maybe the Chiefs will continue to ride this franchise high 11 game win streak which brings me to my next point.
- The Chiefs Have Been On Fire During An 11 Game Winning Streak
Kansas City will enter this game on a franchise long win streak looking rather unbeatable during this run. The question is whether the team can sustain this run during postseason play? The offense has averaged 28.1 points per game during the streak during the regular season. The defense has been just as good only allowing 12.8 points per game. KC also showed it’s dominance in postseason play looking unbeatable posting a 30-0 win over Houston in the wildcard round. For the Chiefs to extend the winning streak to 12 it will have to defeat the defending champs. This seems like a tall order but the way Kansas City has been playing anything is possible. Kansas City’s baseball team has already won a championship this season, maybe its football team is next.
Kansas City doesn’t lose. The @Chiefs have not lost an NFL game since the @Royals won the World Series. pic.twitter.com/q17bzKHTv9
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 4, 2016
- New England Has Injuries Across The Board
The amount of players on the Patriots injury report is absurd. Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Don’t’a Hightower, Chandler Jones, Sebastian Volmer, you name him he’s hurt. To make matters worse Gronk has been in the hospital, Chandler Jones had a meltdown with synthetic marijuana, and Bill Belichick showed up to a press conference with a black eye!
Both teams have been on opposite sides of the spectrum recently as well. New England has lost back to back games and 4 of their past 6. To make matters worse this team has been drastically different since Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount have been place on injured reserve. The Pats are so dinged up they will trot out the decrepit Steven Jackson as the starting tailback who wasn’t even on their roster until a few weeks ago. With health being considered Kansas City may have the edge.
WHY New England Will Win:
- It’s Brady & Belichick Come On!
Are we really ready to take Andy Reid over the historic Bill Belichick? Have we really talked ourselves into taking Alex Smith over Tom Brady? Stop and think for a second because at the end of the day this is still New England we are talking about right? The last time the Patriots have lost 3 games in a row was back in 2002. Tom Brady’s record coming off a loss is 40-8. You would have to be crazy to look past these statistics. Tom Brady is also 8-2 in Divisional round play and has the upper hand in post season play. Don’t you just get that feeling that KC is due for a bad performance? New England would be the team to give them just that.
- The Patriots Are On A Mission After Deflategate
Everyone remembers deflategate, after all it was the most annoying sports story for months! Remember the last time the Pats found themselves in this situation? Oh wait it was 2007 when New England went 16-0 and lost on a Tyree helmet catch in the Super Bowl. I see something similar happening this season. The Patriots were not focused on going 16-0 rather being locked in on successfully defending the Lombardi Trophy. Plenty of teams have won championships while faltering late during the regular season so the notion of the team’s recent struggles shouldn’t worry you. Take New England; don’t get caught up in this Kansas City cheese. Let’s not forget this is a different team when Gronk is healthy.
- New England’s Defense Is Better Than Advertised
Sure they have injuries but no one is healthy this time of year. Their secondary has rebounded from the Revis loss better than anticipated. Much of the attention has gone to Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan but people overlook nickel corner Justin Coleman who went undrafted from Tennessee. Coleman has been a revelation who I was a quite found of as an avid fan of the SEC. Jabaal Sheard has been arguably the best free agent signing of all of football this past season recording 8 sacks this year. Then again other general managers should have seen this coming once he left the dumpster fire in Cleveland. Even Malcolm Brown has contributed along the defensive front after the loss of Vince Wilfork. New England ranked 9th in yards allowed, 10th in points allowed, and 4th in turnover to giveaway ratio. Kansas City will not put up the point total they have been averaging over this win streak, I guarantee it. Especially with a questionable Jeremy Maclin who accounts for so much of their offense.
Def Pen Staff Picks:
David Morrow – New England Patriots
Rob Lopez – Kansas City Chiefs
Honi Ahamadian – New England Patriots
The amount of people that are taking the Chiefs has me concerned for Kansas City. Even Vegas is siding with KC! I simply can’t ignore the data regarding the Patriots. Then again is Alex Smith really going to beat New England on the road in the playoffs? Stop and think take New England. In regards to the point spread I am not ok taking the Chiefs unless you’re giving me 7.5 or more.
