For the most part
White Deatrich Wise Jerseys , Week 5 of the 2018 NFL season was pretty good to the New England Patriots. They started the week off with an excellent Thursday night
win over the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium. They got Julian Edelman
back on the field for the first time since Super Bowl LI a year and a half ago.
They saw some great signs from the newbie Josh Gordon. They even intercepted
Andrew Luck. What could be better than that?But things didn’t stop there for the
Patriots. On Sunday, they at last took back first place in the AFC East after
the Miami Dolphins stumbled in Cincinnati. New England and Miami now have
matching 3-2 records, but thanks to the thumping the Patriots handed the
Dolphins in Foxboro last week, tiebreaker rules officially give the top spot to
the Pats. All is right in the AFC East, and there’s not much to be upset about
right now.But there is one worrisome, unfortunate thing that came out of Week 5.
With the day off on Sunday, the Pats were able to get a look at their upcoming
opponent next Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs. To this point, all signs
indicate that Bill Belichick and company are going to have their hands full with
this young team.The 5-0 Chiefs have just about everything going their way right
now. Above all else, they have the most exciting quarterback in football with
23-year-old Patrick Mahomes, who has yet to lose a game and can seemingly do
just about everything. They have a nearly unstoppable offense with tight end
Travis Kelce, running back Kareem Hunt, and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Their
defense has looked questionable, but they’ve come up pretty big a few times this
season. And it seems like just about anything Kansas City’s defense does wrong,
Mahomes and the offense make up for it almost instantly. It can’t be denied; the
Chiefs are HANDS DOWN the best team in the AFC right now, and they just might be
going to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta come February. After they had their way with
the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, beating them 30-14, torching the best
defense in the league and the team that I had previously picked to go to the
Super Bowl, the Chiefs should be every AFC team’s biggest fear.Patriots fans
should be very worried about next Sunday’s game, because this is going to be
their biggest test of the year. Fortunately, they will be at the wonderful
confines of Gillette Stadium once again, where they’ve been very good this year.
Thanks to their Week 5 game being played on Thursday, they are getting an extra
three days rest before they meet the Chiefs. Those factors will benefit them,
but it’s hard to tell just how much.New England should have every advantage, but
after watching this Kansas City team for five games, it’s hard to imagine any
team who plays against them having an advantage. The Pats don’t lose at Gillette
Stadium very often, but there might be an unavoidable L coming next week. When
the New England Patriots hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in week six of the
regular season, both offenses were spectacular while the two teams’ defenses
still made the occasional big play. One of the biggest plays of the 43-40
contest, however, was made in neither of the two phases but rather the
oft-forgotten third: the kicking game.Following a Patriots field goal early in
the fourth quarter that gave the team a 30-26 lead, Chiefs returnman Tremon
Smith ran the ensuing kickoff back 97 yards to the New England 3-yard line.
Three plays later
Deatrich Wise Jerseys 2019 , Kansas City was in the end zone to take its first lead of the day. And while it ultimately would not last, Smith’s return still
proved to be one of the biggest momentum swings in the game.With the two teams
set to meet again on Sunday with the AFC title on the line, once more the focus
is mostly on offense and defense. The Patriots and Chiefs field two of the best
offensive units in football, while their defenses have come a long way since
their week six bout that saw a combined 83 points and 946 yards of offense.
However, special teams might again play a pivotal role when it is all said and
done.“It is a key phase of the game,” said Patriots special teams ace Albert
McClellan when talking about the importance of the kicking game earlier this
week. “A lot of people always say that punting is the most important play of the
game since so many people have their hands on the ball. It’s great to get
noticed, but at the same time we are a unit, so once one person gets noticed the
whole unit gets noticed.”McClellan will be a big player for the Patriots on
Sunday — one that was not with the team when it first played the Chiefs: the
veteran, who was named the best special teamer in the NFL by advanced analytics
website Pro Football Focus, was only added to the team in early November after
his release from the Baltimore Ravens. He appeared in eight games for New
England since then, playing roughly two thirds of special teams snaps.Together
with fellow mid-season acquisition Ramon Humber, McClellan helped stabilize the
Patriots’ previously inconsistent kick coverage units — something that is not
lost on special teams captain Matthew Slater. “All I remember from going back to
my notes from when we played Kansas City was writing down that we’re not very
good in the kicking game,” said Slater earlier this week. “I certainly haven’t
forgotten how we played against these guys. It was terrible, so we’re going to
try and avoid a repeat of that.”“I think that we’ve certainly made strides
throughout the course of the season. It’s been great to have [Albert McClellan]
come in and really help us, Ramon [Humber] come in and help us,” Slater
continued. “Two steady veterans that really understand how to play this game.
They’ve brought a lot of balance to our game and what we do and I think we have
made strides, but we’re going to find out whether we’ve made enough strides here
come Sunday night.”McClellan also knows that the Patriots, as opposed to week
six, need to be on top of their special teams game on Sunday. “They got some
home run hitters. You’ve got to be disciplined. You’ve got to be laser-focused,”
the 32-year old said. “Everything comes into play: your assignment, your
technique, communicating everything. It’s not just one person, it’s not just one
thing — it’s combining everything and hopefully your formula is better than
theirs.”Through their first 17 games, the Chiefs’ formula is serving them well
on both kickoffs and punts: both primary returnmen are posting some very good
numbers with speedster Tyreek Hill running back punts and the aforementioned
Smith usually responsible for kickoffs. Hill is averaging 8.8 yards on his 25
punt returns, and also scored a touchdown on opening day, while Smith is gaining
26.4 yards per kickoff runback (886 yards on 33 returns).New England’s returners
are no slouches either, though. Punt returner Julian Edelman is gaining an
average of 7.6 yards since returning to the team in week five. Meanwhile,
kickoff returner Cordarrelle Patterson is still one of the NFL’s primary weapons
in the returngame: the 27-year old is running kickoffs back for an average of
28.6 yards and also has a week seven touchdown on his r?sum?.While the battle
between the Patriots’ and Chiefs’ offenses and defenses takes center stage
leading up to the AFC Championship Game, it might very well be a kicking game
play to make the difference. Three months removed from their debacle in week
six, New England appears to be better prepared to handle it this time
around.
