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

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FOXBOROUGH, MA – OCTOBER 14: Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs looks to pass in the second quarter of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /

1. Build a lead and don’t allow a rally

Last year in the first meeting between the Pats and the Chiefs in the regular season game at Gillette, New England raced out to a 24-9 lead at halftime. The Chiefs then proceeded to outscore the Patriots in the third quarter 17-3 and were narrowly outscored by the Patriots in the fourth quarter 14-16. Do the math, and the Chiefs outscored the Patriots 31-19 in the second half.

Then in the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots built a 14-0 lead on the road that they took into the locker room at halftime. What happened next? You guessed it… the Chiefs outscored the Patriots 7-3 in the third quarter, then exploded for a scoring margin of 24-14 in the fourth quarter. Final tally? Chiefs outscored the Patriots 31-17 in the second half.

Patriots outscored the Chiefs 38-9 in the two first halves of both games. Chiefs outscored the Patriots 62-36 in the two second halves of both games.

What’s important is that New England proved victorious in both of those important games last year, but it’s a disturbing trend nonetheless. Clearly the Patriots are good at building up an early lead against the Chiefs, and then bad by letting Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the always-explosive Kansas City offense get back into the game late.

What’s even more potentially disturbing is that the Patriots offense this year has not looked anywhere near as competent or efficient as the Patriots offense last year looked. In other words, there’s no guarantee New England can race out to an early lead like they did the last two times they played the Chiefs, which means there’s even more reason for the Patriots D to play a full 60 minutes of football.

Next. It's now or never for the Patriots run game. dark

That is of course the good news here. If the Patriots offense this season is clearly inferior to the offense of last season, then at least the defense is clearly superior this year compared to last. Hopefully Bill Belichick will have no problems coaching his guys up and getting their best effort from whistle to whistle – if they allow the same kinds of mistakes and mental errors they committed against Baltimore and Houston, this Patriots offense might not be able to help bail them out like they did last year twice.

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