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Kansas City Chiefs: Defense can’t carry team vs Patriots

By Leigh Oleszczak

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - NOVEMBER 18: Defensive back Rashad Fenton #27 of the Kansas City Chiefs and teammate Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates Fenton's interception in the fourth quarter over the Los Angeles Chargers at Estadio Azteca on November 18, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - NOVEMBER 18: Defensive back Rashad Fenton #27 of the Kansas City Chiefs and teammate Tyrann Mathieu #32 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates Fenton's interception in the fourth quarter over the Los Angeles Chargers at Estadio Azteca on November 18, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images) /
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Over the past two weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs defense has been the saving grace for the team, as weird as that is to type. In week 14 against the Patriots, the Chiefs offense has to help out the defense.

Last year and for the early part of this season, the Kansas City Chiefs were a good team solely because of their offense. They had an MVP quarterback and an explosive offense behind him and that led to a lot of shootouts for the Chiefs, as their defense couldn’t stop anyone.

In the back half of 2019, especially over the course of these last two games, however, it’s been the Chiefs defense that has been carrying the load with the offense failing to deliver on their end of the bargain. Yes, the offense scored four touchdowns last week, but they were able to get into good field position due to the defense forcing turnovers and putting them in that position.

This weekend should be a unique game.

On the one side, you have the Kansas City Chiefs, who are known for their offensive prowess, but have been lacking in that department as of late. Their defense has stepped up to the plate over the last month, but we still know how shaky that run defense is. Still, without their defense playing as well as it has lately, this team is probably in a much tighter race for the division title.

On the other side, there’s the Patriots, who have a respectable defense, but their offense is pretty lousy at the moment. Their Hall of Fame quarterback has looked like a shell of himself, the run game can’t get anything going, and the only good wide receiver New England has is constantly double teamed. Simply put – They have no offensive weapons.

With how bad the Patriots offense has looked over the last few games, the Chiefs defense has a chance to show the nation how much they’ve improved. It’ll be all for naught though if the offense doesn’t do their job.

It won’t be easy, as New England’s defense is really good, but has shown cracks against good teams. The Chiefs offense had no problem slicing and dicing against the Pats D last year, but these are two much different teams. KC’s offense isn’t as lethal as it was a season ago and New England’s defense has improved.

The key to this game is making sure to get the other receivers not named Tyreek Hill involved in the game plan. That’s easier said than done, of course, as Hill has been the only effective receiver and that means he’ll more than likely be the one the Patriots defense takes away, forcing Mahomes to target his other weapons.

That will leave Travis Kelce (either he or Hill will be the weapon removed from the Chiefs’ offensive game plan) along with Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson, who have disappeared off the face of the planet. They also have their run game, which ranks 24th in the league, so that doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

If the Chiefs defense can continue to play as well as they have been lately (and continue to make the Patriots offense look anemic), then all it takes to win this game is for the offense to play to the level that we all know they’re capable of.

All it takes is one good offensive performance for this team to get back on track and this would be the perfect week to do it.

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