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Chiefs Game Plan:
Thanks to Texans, KC has a blueprint for how to beat the Patriots
By
Seth Keysor

The Kansas City Chiefs head to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday to take on the New England Patriots in a matchup that has turned into somewhat of a rivalry of late. The two teams faced off in both the regular season and the playoffs last year, with both games coming down to the wire in favor of the Patriots.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been stymied by Patriots coach Bill Belichick more than anyone else in the league, with the first half of both contests against the Patriots leaning heavily in favor of New England. Both times, however, Mahomes and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid found answers and were able to put up 30-plus points after the half.

The Chiefs are fighting to stay in contention for a No. 2 seed and need a win Sunday for that to be even a remote possibility. The Patriots are trying to hang on to their spot after dropping two of their last four games following an 8-0 start. However, New England still controls its fate even if it loses to Reid and Co., so an argument can be made that they have less to play for than Kansas City.

Because the Chiefs and the Patriots have faced off multiple times in the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to review New England’s film more than most teams. While they have an imposing defense and are more opportunistic on offense than the current narrative, there are some cracks in the foundation that the Chiefs can exploit. With that in mind, here are a few things I’ll be watching for Sunday.

Taking away Brady’s toys

The Patriots’ offense and the Chiefs’ defense are both very different this year than last. Kansas City’s D has improved a great deal, while New England’s offense lost Rob Gronkowski and has struggled to find playmakers who consistently win matchups. Losing fullback James Develin to injury has hurt them a great deal, as he (along with Gronkowski) was central to last season’s punishing ground game.

Receiver Julian Edelman and running back James White have been Tom Brady’s most dependable targets, with newcomer Mohamed Sanu still working his way into the offense despite nursing a lingering ankle injury. Last week, the Texans dared the Patriots to beat them in the passing game with anyone else, bracketing Edelman and assigning a secondary player to cover White out of the backfield rather than a linebacker.

The Texans are able to play straight man across the board here with cornerback Bradley Roby on White and Edelman bracketed, and no one else is able to get open.

The Chiefs have an exceptional “robber-style” safety in Tyrann Mathieu, and having him patrol the intermediate and shallow zones near Edelman would go a long way toward removing Brady’s options. Safety Daniel Sorensen has found a role covering running backs out of the backfield of late and should be able to discourage throws to White, or that role could fall to one of the Chiefs’ cornerbacks. By ensuring those players are removed from the equation, the Chiefs should be free to play a lot of man coverage elsewhere and free up rushers to go after Brady.

Bringing the heat on Brady

Brady is obviously one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league, and his pocket presence is excellent. However, he’s a subpar athlete at the position and no longer possesses an elite arm. If teams are able to play effective coverage without committing seven guys in coverage and bring extra rushers, they’ve been able to get pressure on him quickly at times this season.

Here, the Texans play aggressive man coverage and threaten pressure from multiple defenders. It’s worth noting that they did this despite the Patriots being spread out with receivers all over the field. Because Houston wasn’t afraid of those matchups, they left cornerbacks and safeties on islands and went after Brady immediately. Linebacker Zach Cunningham makes sure to give White a shove out of the backfield and the pressure is home before Brady can find any open receivers.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves to draw up blitzes from his safeties and slot cornerbacks, and he uses his linebackers liberally in that area as well. If the Chiefs can find ways to get pressure on Brady, he has shown a propensity for forcing throws more than he did in the past, putting the ball at risk for an interception.

The Texans don’t blitz here but are able to cover well and eventually get some pressure. Brady makes an ill-advised throw deep to Edelman despite almost no chance of a completion. What should be an interception is dropped and the Patriots get a break.

If Brady is forced to throw the ball to stay in the game, the Chiefs can do a lot to make his life miserable with a more limited group than he has had in years. Of course, that means the Chiefs’ offense will have to put up points, and that has been no easy task this season against New England.


Beating the Patriots’ blitzing/pressure

This has been a point of emphasis for Kansas City since last year’s AFC Championship Game. The Patriots have had success in the past keeping Mahomes and the offensive line guessing and bringing quick pressure while covering well enough on the back end to prevent the aggressive looks from being exploited. Mahomes often had to play superhero football to make the offense move.

The Chiefs need to be ready for these blitzes from New England and, once again, should look to the Texans’ example to see how to approach them.

Houston ran a number of routes designed to beat man coverage and get open across the middle of the field quickly against the Patriots, taking advantage of their speed at receiver and the wide swaths of space left open by Cover-0 looks. The Chiefs have even more speed in their playmaker group and should be able to do something similar, understanding that they’ll likely face press coverage at the line of scrimmage for most of the game.

Sammy Watkins, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman will be crucial here. The Patriots will likely focus their attention on making contact with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill early and often while devoting extra defenders to them. They might also utilize All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Kelce in order to dedicate extra attention to Hill, a tactic they’ve used with success in the past. If that happens, the Chiefs’ other playmakers must show they can win one-on-one matchups against lesser defenders. Hardman deserves more snaps and would be an ideal piece for the Chiefs to use on drags and crossers, as he’s too fast for any defender to run with for longer than a few strides.

The Patriots also continue to bring pressure from different angles better than almost any other team in the league.

The Patriots gave the Chiefs a lot of problems pre-snap by bringing pressure from various places last year. They also were able to continuously beat the Chiefs’ offensive line using various stunts/twists, which is problematic for Kansas City considering they’ve continued to struggle with those things this season.

If the Chiefs aren’t able to deal with the Patriots’ movement and blitzes, it could again fall on Mahomes to make plays on his own Sunday, and Kansas City’s offense will likely stall at times without an all-world performance. If that happens, the Patriots will be able to take advantage of the Chiefs 30th-ranked (by DVOA) run defense and grind the game to a halt in the second half. If the Chiefs deal with these issues in similar fashion to the Texans and force New England to pass, it’s doubtful the Patriots will be able to keep pace.

Using the running backs in space

Reid is well known for using his running backs in the passing game through a variety of routes and screens. With Damien Williams injured and Darrel Williams out for the season, LeSean McCoy, Darwin Thompson and the newly signed Spencer Ware are the likely running backs in the rotation Sunday. Both McCoy and Ware have shown themselves to be capable receivers at the pro level, and Thompson flashed as a receiver when given the opportunity during the preseason.

The Patriots’ use of man coverage makes them vulnerable to having linebackers in space against running backs. While New England’s linebackers are very good, they aren’t fast and can be exploited in the open field if they must cover for any extended period of time. The Texans took advantage of this with Duke Johnson multiple times.

It’s worth noting that the Patriots are up front in showing their pressure here. That puts the linebacker right at the line of scrimmage and with his momentum going the wrong way to cover Johnson. It’s an easy win for the Texans as long as Deshaun Watson can extend the play for a moment.

I’ve already written that Thompson needs more playing time, and this would be a perfect matchup for the Chiefs to exploit if the Patriots are aggressive at the line of scrimmage. McCoy has been productive in limited touches as well, provided he holds on to the football. Reid is excellent at using motion to force defenses to expose their coverage and then use rub routes (or picks) to free up running backs in space.

It may seem counter-intuitive to send the running backs out of the backfield against a team that likes to blitz, but if Mahomes can stay upright, it could result in big plays for Kansas City.

This game will serve as a litmus test for the Chiefs now that they are finally healthy and have had some time together as a group. If the Chiefs are able to implement a game plan to take advantage of the weak spots the Patriots have shown, they should be able to win on the back of their superior offense. If not, it will be tough to stop New England from taking control of the game in the fourth quarter with their run game and aggressive defense. The opportunities will be there, but Kansas City will have to play a complete game on both sides of the ball — the last time they did that was in Week 3 — to take advantage of them. If they do, it will be much easier to see them running the table and contending for a bye week.