Who are the New England Patriots’ top threats to going 16-0?
2. Kansas City Chiefs
Back in February, we identified the Patriots’ rematch of last year’s AFC Championship Game as the most difficult regular season game on their schedule this year. That rationale hasn’t changed much since the season began, even with news that star Kansas City receiver Tyreek Hill is set to miss 4-6 weeks with a clavicle injury sustained in Week 1.
Because the Patriots and Chiefs won’t meet until early December this year in Week 14, there’s a very good chance that Hill will be back in time for that game… provided he doesn’t have any setbacks in his recovery process or sustain any further injuries. This is significant, obviously, because not only is Hill one of the Chiefs’ best players – he’s also one that’s historically given the Patriots fits, though he was fairly well-neutralized by New England cornerback Jonathan Jones last January.
The Pats and Chiefs had two epic clashes last year: one in Foxborough at Gillette and one in Kansas City at Arrowhead. Even if you weren’t a fan of either team, it was hard not to come away from both games with an immense sense of satisfaction and appreciation for the sport of football… particularly if you like offensive fireworks.
Conceivably, the Chiefs should be an even greater threat to the Patriots in 2019 than they were in 2018, thanks largely to the improvement of their defense.
Old coordinator Bob Sutton was fired (primarily because of how his defense fared against Brady and the Pats in that conference championship game), and now Steve Spagnuolo is in charge. New Englanders will recall that “Spags” was the Giants defensive coordinator when they derailed the Patriots’ quest for a perfect season in Super Bowl 42.
In addition to a new coordinator, the Chiefs also now have ex-Seahawk Frank Clark playing at defensive end. Clark joins several other playmakers – namely Chris Jones and Dee Ford – as key contributors who could make the end result different when New England plays Kansas City again this year.
Of course, the No. 1 reason the Chiefs could disable the Patriots’ bid for a perfect regular season is third-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The NFL’s reigning MVP, Mahomes is quite simply the most exciting, electrifying, dangerous offensive threat in the league today. If he plays up to his full potential and the Patriots defense has an off-day on December 8, New England will surely fall to Kansas City.