Where: Gillette Stadium
When: Saturday, January 16th, 2016
Time: 4:35 ET
The Chiefs have been on a tremendous role as of late, they have won 11 games in a row and have seemed to find a balance on both sides of the ball.
Not to mention they are coming off of the first shut out in the post season for the Chiefs. The Patriots on the other have suffered back to back losses in week 16 and 17 to the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. This will be the first time the Chiefs have played the Patriots in the playoffs, and currently the Chiefs have a 17-13-3 record over the Patriots overall.
The last time these two teams played was in 2014, the Chiefs blew out the Patriots 41-14 at Arrowhead. This was the only game Smith has played the Patriots and he completed 20/26 passing attempts for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The last time the Chiefs played in Gillette stadium however was a different story since they got blown out 34-3. Kansas City currently is 5th in takeaways with 29 compared to New England's 21, Kansas City allows the 3rd fewest points per game at 17.9 while the Patriots give up the 10th fewest with 19.7. Most of these turnovers have come from star rookie cornerback Marcus Peters who should get the task of defending Julian Edelman this weekend.
The Chiefs pass defense is great as they have only allowed the 8th most passing yards per game at 231.1 while the Patriots give up 240.7. Both teams rushing defense is slightly identical however in rushing offense they could not be farther apart. The Chiefs boast the 6th ranked rushing offense with 127.8 while the Patriots are 30th with 87.8.
Over the last 11 games the Chiefs have allowed just 11.6 points per game while scoring 28 points per game on average, it is numbers like this that show just how defensively dominant they can be. Alex Smith in his 4 preseason games has completed 61 percent of his passes and averaged 266 yards, 10 touchdowns (5 of them with the Chiefs), and 1 interception. This is where Brady's numbers stand out, he holds the record for most postseason starts (29), wins (21), touchdown passes (53), touchdown passes in a single game (6), passing yards (7,345), completions (683), and finally conference championships at 6.
This is the time of year where the Patriots excel but how can you not think of them as the underdog after the struggles they have had in the last few weeks. The Patriots should be almost fully healthy for this contest (well except Tom Brady's ankle) so they should have their hands full against a very sound Chiefs team.