Well, here's that time again. Thursday night, your New England Patriots and SB Champs will open their 2017-2018 season against the Kansas City Chiefs.
To get things started, here's a primer on their current 53-man roster: http://www.espn.com/blog/kansas-city-chiefs/post/_/id/22151/chiefs-have-their-roster-but-is-it-good-enough
Some quick thoughts on the game:
Although Brady lost his favorite target in Edelman, Chief's starting CB Steven Nelson was also put on IR (signing C.J. Spiller in his place). Brady can stay away from Marcus Peterson and exploit the likes of Phillip Gaines and DJ White. Of course, this assumes that either 1) NE will be able to run the ball to keep them honest and 2) OL can keep Brady up long enough against the Chiefs (legit scary if Justin Houston returns to form) pass rush. Since Eric Berry roams the middle, I'm expecting more sideline routes to Hogan and Cooks rather than in-seam throws as well.
On the other side of the ball, I think the NE secondary tackles well enough to prevent the patented Alex Smith's dink-and-dunk clock-eating drives. Losing key offensive cogs like Maclin will hurt (in an offense that was decidedly middle-of-the-road in 2016). Not having to face Spender Ware (lost for the season) helps out here as well. This is a "good" (from NE's PoV) offense to face as it works its kinks out.
On special teams, I say they'd be pretty even except for the numerous injuries that Ebner, Slater, and others are still recovering from. BB's focus on the special team talents (Bademosi, for example) makes a lot of sense right now.
Even if things are unexpectedly close, you know you can count on a Reid screw-up or two, either with end-of-half time-management or a mystifying challenge flag.
As you know I don't make score predictions but feeling pretty good about the opening game.
LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!
P.S. Just a quick note -- as was in the years past, would like to get the pre-game news, updates, analytics, and (of course) hot takes here INSTEAD of the Game Thread.
To get things started, here's a primer on their current 53-man roster: http://www.espn.com/blog/kansas-city-chiefs/post/_/id/22151/chiefs-have-their-roster-but-is-it-good-enough
Some quick thoughts on the game:
Although Brady lost his favorite target in Edelman, Chief's starting CB Steven Nelson was also put on IR (signing C.J. Spiller in his place). Brady can stay away from Marcus Peterson and exploit the likes of Phillip Gaines and DJ White. Of course, this assumes that either 1) NE will be able to run the ball to keep them honest and 2) OL can keep Brady up long enough against the Chiefs (legit scary if Justin Houston returns to form) pass rush. Since Eric Berry roams the middle, I'm expecting more sideline routes to Hogan and Cooks rather than in-seam throws as well.
On the other side of the ball, I think the NE secondary tackles well enough to prevent the patented Alex Smith's dink-and-dunk clock-eating drives. Losing key offensive cogs like Maclin will hurt (in an offense that was decidedly middle-of-the-road in 2016). Not having to face Spender Ware (lost for the season) helps out here as well. This is a "good" (from NE's PoV) offense to face as it works its kinks out.
On special teams, I say they'd be pretty even except for the numerous injuries that Ebner, Slater, and others are still recovering from. BB's focus on the special team talents (Bademosi, for example) makes a lot of sense right now.
Even if things are unexpectedly close, you know you can count on a Reid screw-up or two, either with end-of-half time-management or a mystifying challenge flag.
As you know I don't make score predictions but feeling pretty good about the opening game.
LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!
P.S. Just a quick note -- as was in the years past, would like to get the pre-game news, updates, analytics, and (of course) hot takes here INSTEAD of the Game Thread.
