ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has a nice piece up looking at the worst matchups for each playoff contenders. For example, the Texans worst matchup is the Chiefs. The Broncos worst matchup is the Raiders. The Raiders worst matchup is the Cowboys.
The Chiefs worst matchup? New England.
Anyone is a bad matchup for the Patriots but I understand why they were chosen for the Chiefs because they’re a lot like the Chiefs. Barnwell makes a few points about a potential Chiefs-Patriots matchup:
- The Patriots don’t turn it over. They have just four turnovers in Tom Brady’s eight starts this year.
- The Chiefs can’t attack their secondary (save Tyreek Hill).
- The Patriots among the top kick and punt coverage units, which limits Tyreek Hill’s impact.
The Patriots don’t beat themselves. The Chiefs win most of their games waiting for the opponent to screw up. That’s the biggest thing here. There won’t be easy turnovers or big special teams plays.
Who knows though? We said the Chiefs can’t beat good teams and they did that this year. We said they can’t come from behind and they did that this year. We said they can’t lose the turnover battle and win and yet they did that last week.
This teams feels different. I don’t want to put a ceiling on what they can do.