PatsPropaganda

After a bounceback win against the Eagles, the Patriots righted their 2019 season ship. The best NFL betting sites still like the team’s chances as Super Bowl favorites while the top rated sportsbooks will still find plenty of people willing to bet the Pats are headed back to the championship for the fourth-straight season.

With AFC matchups with Houston and Kansas City still to come, the Patriots are still very much in the driver’s seat in the AFC, but Baltimore is just one game behind them, leaving little margin for error. How the Patriots do against the Texans and Chiefs will determine if the Pats get to stay home for the playoffs, or if they’ll face a challenge like last year, when they had to pull out an overtime win in Kansas City.

After a devastating loss to the Ravens, the Texans still look like pretenders, but getting to face the Patriots on their homefield in Houston will be a big boost. Meanwhile the Chiefs will have to travel to New England, where they also lost to the Patriots last season.

Right now it’s a good bet that the Pats will have faced the top four teams in the AFC over the course of this six-game stretch that has the team already with a 1-1 record. All pose different challenges, especially in the mobile quarterback department, but it would still seem that the Chiefs explosive passing game is the biggest threat in the coming weeks.

But the Chiefs flawed defense is a reason for optimism. Kansas City has struggled against the run this year but New England has struggled to run the ball. Usually something has to give, but in this game something would have to happen — either the Chiefs finally stopping the run or the Patriots finally running it.

The best case scenario for the Patriots would be to see Baltimore and Kansas City face each other in the divisional round. Those are the two best threats to New England and not having to play them both would improve New England’s chances in the playoffs.

The best thing the Patriots can do is keep on winning. They still control their fate and are a team who usually plays their best football as the weather gets colder. If they do that once again they’ll be firmly atop the list of AFC favorites once again.

The Patriots are off to their fourth 5-0 start under Bill Belichick, but this time around it’s an elite defense leading the way. For a team that has gone to eight-straight AFC championship games and four of the last five Super Bowls, is there anyone who can stop New England?

US Sportsbooks have the Pats as solid favorites so if you’re looking to bet the Super Bowl now might be a good time. The Kansas City Chiefs got off to a great start behind the electric Patrick Mahomes, but an ankle injury to Mahomes helped hand the Chiefs their first defeat of the season.

Teams like Houston and Baltimore have shown glimpses of being explosive teams and with mobile quarterbacks, they could challenge the vaunted Patriots defense like we haven’t seen yet. Buffalo gave the Pats everything they could handle in Week 4 and feature a defense that has slowed down Tom Brady the last few times they’ve played.

The Patriots always seem to get better, so that a handful of teams that have the talent and coaching to compete must follow suit. But perhaps the biggest key will be who stays most healthy.

The Patriots have already matched their high of players on injured reserve from last year, but could be poised to get starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn and rookie first-rounder N’Keal Harry back later this season. Those are two players who could provide a nice boost for the Pats.

The Patriots continue to be one of the best-coached and well-run organizations in professional sports. Their schedule has had an easy start but will get tougher, with conference rivalry games in November and December. Those games will have a huge say in seedings and where the playoff games are played.

A return trip to Kansas City for a second-straight year on the road in the AFC Championship would still provide a huge challenge for the Patriots and one they might not be able to overcome again.

Last season ended in storybook fashion for the New England Patriots, as they ran through the post-season en route to yet another Super Bowl victory. Their toughest test in those playoffs came against the Kansas City Chiefs, who took the Pats into overtime in the AFC Championship Game. And with the Chiefs getting more experienced and getting used to their high expectations, the Patriots will need to be at their best to defend their AFC crown against Kansas City. Will the Patriots be able to get through the Chiefs should they meet again this post-season? 

Chiefs Posing a Threat 

Perhaps the biggest reason that the Kansas City Chiefs feel like such a threat to the Patriots dynasty in the AFC, is the fact that Andy Reid’s team may not have reached their full potential last season. Given that the Chiefs ended up finishing at the top of the AFC standings heading into the playoffs, that should be a scary thought for anyone they face in 2019. 

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the player who embodies the idea that the Chiefs might be even better this year than they were last year. Mahomes burst onto the scene last season, earning the league’s Most Valuable Player award in his first full season as a starting quarterback. This year, he is being challenged in training camp by Reid and the rest of the coaching staff in hopes that he will be an MVP candidate for the second straight year. 

But it’s the defense of the Chiefs that might be the area the team improves the most. Last season, the Patriots were given all they could handle by the Chiefs, before Tom Brady led a game-winning drive in overtime to beat the Chiefs and their porous defense to get back to the Super Bowl. This year, the Chiefs have Steve Spagnuolo to run their defense, who has had a history of success against the Patriots in big games as the former defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. If he can get his players to put pressure on Tom Brady, the results this season could be different. 

Patriots Still In Charge 

While the Chiefs will put a tough team on the field in 2019, the New England Patriots are the New England Patriots for a reason. They still have arguably the best quarterback in the history of the sport in Tom Brady, whose recent contract extension is another sign that he isn’t going anywhere just yet. Brady comes into the 2019 season healthy, and still enjoys one of the greatest advantages in all of sports. 

That advantage is the superior coaching of the Patriots, led by Bill Belichick. When it comes to analyzing a potential match-up between the Patriots and Chiefs, there is no position where the Patriots have a bigger advantage than at head coach. Belichick has owned Reid in the post-season for his entire career, including Reid’s tenures in both Philadelphia and Kansas City. Even with the fearsome roster of the Chiefs, coach Belichick’s ability to utilize his players better than anyone else in the league gives the Pats an edge that no other team enjoys. 

The Pats will still need to overcome some adversity if they are going to earn yet another AFC championship over the Chiefs, though. They are going to have to figure out how to replace the production of Rob Gronkowski at the tight end position, as few tight ends in history have been as difficult to matchup with. And the injury concerns surrounding Julian Edelman will be something to keep an eye on, as his return is supposed to be a big key to this year’s Patriots offense. 

With or without Edelman, the Patriots are in for some stiff competition from the Kansas City Chiefs this season. But with Brady still playing at an elite level and Belichick still finding ways to outmaneuver opponents, all of the potential in the world might not matter should the Patriots and Chiefs meet on the field with the conference championship on the line.