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3 keys to the New England Patriots beating the Kansas City Chiefs

By Patrick Morgan

FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs leaps by Duron Harmon #21 and Patrick Chung #23 of of the New England Patriots in the first quarter at Gillette Stadium in October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs leaps by Duron Harmon #21 and Patrick Chung #23 of of the New England Patriots in the first quarter at Gillette Stadium in October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /
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KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 30: Tight end Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs high-fives wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 during the game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on October 30, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 30: Tight end Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs high-fives wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 during the game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on October 30, 2017 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /

3. Neutralize Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill

Without a doubt, the two biggest threats on the Kansas City Chiefs – outside of Patrick Mahomes obviously – are tight end Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill.

Kelce is the best tight end in the NFL today and it’s not really that close. Maybe 49ers fans will champion George Kittle and Eagles fans will trumpet Zach Ertz; both players are certainly elite, but neither one is the game-wrecking offensive force than Kelce is.

If Kelce is the thunder, Hill is the lightning. Probably the fastest player in the league, the Chiefs No. 1 wide receiver was once viewed as more of a gadget type weapon than as a true superstar receiver. No longer… he is rightly considered among the top-10 players at his position in the NFL today.

Bill Belichick has gone to great lengths in prior meetings between the Patriots and the Chiefs to contain these two players. In five career games against Kelce (two of which came in the postseason), the New England defense has mostly held up well. Kelce was held scoreless in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and his highest receiving output in any of those games was only 61 yards (last season).

Kelce was also fairly bottled up in last season’s AFC Championship Game, catching three passes for just 23 yards – although one reception went for a touchdown. Predictably, he did most of his damage to the Pats when he was still an ascending player not yet on Belichick’s roster – back in 2014 he caught eight passes for 93 yards and a score.

Belichick has had less success mitigating the damage wrought by Hill, though his defense did erase Hill in the AFC Championship Game last year (one catch for 42 yards and only three targets). Prior to that game, Hill had eviscerated the Patriots in their October regular season game to the tune of seven catches for 142 yards and three touchdowns. He also had seven catches in 2017 that went for 133 yards and a touchdown.

Morale of the story? The Patriots need to put Stephon Gilmore on one of these two guys and then double-cover the other one. Of course, New England had a lot of success putting their speediest cornerback, Jonathan Jones, on Hill last January. If they do that again, they should also assign one of their safeties to Hill for extra coverage and stick Gilmore on Kelce.

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