With Edelman coming back one of the most unsafe set of triplets in the NFL, Brady, Edelman and Gronk, is back at full strength.
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Reiss: I’m sure you’ve received this question quite a bit this year, Adam, but how do you go from 1-5 to 11-5 and then win a wild-card playoff game so convincingly (30-0 over Houston)? Kansas City has not won in Foxboro since late in the 1990 season, just over 25 years ago.
Point spread: Patriots opened as five-point favorites; the total was 44.5 early in the week, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.
Quarterback Alex Smith said knowing the next loss could knock them out of the playoffs has motivated his team since October. Obviously, they’ve given up very few points and played their best football down the stretch, which is obviously an issue in terms of just being able to finish drives or get down into the red area in the first place to try to score points on them.
“It’s one of the most special games I ever remember at Arrowhead”, a beaming Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said after the 2014 New England game.
The Chiefs defense may be a flawless matchup for the Patriots.
With these in mind, the Rob Gronkowski squad appears to have also lost the faith of the National Football League community that they can replicate their Super Bowl win this season. Kansas City is 2-5 SU in its last seven games against New England per the OddsShark NFL Database.
Strictly in terms of the scoreboard, last season’s game was even worse, as the Chiefs hammered New England 41 to 14. With various injuries to their receiving corps and running backs, the Patriots have had a hard time scoring. And they’ve got a lot of playmakers on defense. The quick passing game will help alleviate the pressure on Brady minimizing the effects of the Kansas City pass rush. He didn’t practice Tuesday, but Reid listed him as day to day and was hopeful that Maclin could take the field Saturday for the playoff game against the Patriots in Foxborough.
Edelman hasn’t played in a game since November 15, but he has been practicing with the team since the middle of December.
The return of Edelman should offer a major boost to New England’s offense. Edelman has been out since week 10 when he suffered a broken foot. We just havent played the way we wouldve liked here these last six games, Slater said. The Patriots went 3-4, and Brady went down to 59.4% completion percentage, 12 touchdowns to 4 interceptions and a 89.1 passer rating.
Apparently, “if it goes, it goes” is Edelman’s version of Ivan Drago. Then in the NFC title game, Smith tossed two more touchdown passes without an interception and had the 49ers on the brink of the Super Bowl, only for his special teams to let him down in a 20-17 overtime defeat to the Giants.
Whether or not this ultimately hurts his effectiveness remains to be seen, but Brady is going to need his number one receiver if he hopes to have a big game against a tough defense.
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25 October 2015: Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali (91) sacks Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Landry Jones (3) and forces the fumble during the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO.
