Arrowhead Addict
FanSided

Scouting The Enemy: Can Patrick Mahomes beat the New England Patriots?

By Kody Latham

KANSAS CITY, MO - OCTOBER 7: Kareem Hunt #27 of the Kansas City Chiefs stiff arms would be tackler Barry Church #42 of the Jacksonville Jaguars during the third quarter of the game at Arrowhead Stadium on October 7, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO - OCTOBER 7: Kareem Hunt #27 of the Kansas City Chiefs stiff arms would be tackler Barry Church #42 of the Jacksonville Jaguars during the third quarter of the game at Arrowhead Stadium on October 7, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 3
Next
FOXBOROUGH, MA – SEPTEMBER 30: Stephon Gilmore #24 of the New England Patriots tackles Albert Wilson #15 of the Miami Dolphins during the first half at Gillette Stadium on September 30, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA – SEPTEMBER 30: Stephon Gilmore #24 of the New England Patriots tackles Albert Wilson #15 of the Miami Dolphins during the first half at Gillette Stadium on September 30, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /

Defense

Similar to the Chiefs this season New England’s defense has been an issue for the team this season. They currently rank 18th in total defense, 15th in passing defense, and 21st in rushing defense.The early season struggles of the Patriots defense could be attributed to the departure of Matt Patricia. He left during the off season to become the newest head coach of the Lions. Patricia was replaced by Brian Flores the linebackers coach for the team. Flores was never officially promoted to the defensive coordinator position, he was just given the responsibility of being the play caller on game days for the defense. This isn’t that surprising since Belichick is known as a defensive mastermind.

Belichick has been hard at work trying to upgrade the defense over the past year as well. The first move they made was trading for Danny Shelton from the Cleveland Browns. Shelton a former first round draft pick in the 2015 draft, has had an up and down career so far. The most tackles that Shelton has been able to accumulate in a season was 59, that came in 2016, easily his best season. In 2015 and 2017 he was only able to garner 36, and 33 tackles. Other than the 2016 season Shelton has been average at best.

New England also attempted to add more depth to the secondary during the draft when they selected corner back Duke Dawson in the second round. unfortunately Dawson never played a regular season snap for the Patriots. He was placed on injured reserve after a hamstring injury had kept him sidelined since the first preseason game. The Patriots secondary is still in decent shape with Stephon Gilmore, Eric Rowe, and Patrick Chung still leading the charge. The addition of Dawson would of just given them some much needed depth, and possibly a more reliable slot corner.

This game could easily see 100 combined points scored if both the Chiefs and Patriots offenses are humming. With the playoff implications that this game holds this is as close to a must win game the Chiefs will have this season.

How realistic is an undefeated season?. dark. Next

Mahomes and company have done an amazing job of shattering the expectations for this team and showing everyone that they have what it takes to compete for a super bowl.  If Mahomes can lead this team past the legends of Brady and Belichick then there will no longer be questions of what Mahomes can do, and where he can lead this team.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs News