New England Patriots vs New Orleans Saints

This week sees the 0-1 (yes I said 0-1) New England Patriots travel to New Orleans to face Drew Brees and the Saints in what is a highly anticipated showdown. After the Patriots were defeated by the Chiefs 42-27 on opening night people have raised questions around Tom Brady and co. The same happened when the Pats were defeated 41-14 by the Chiefs back in 2014 but the doubters were silenced when New England went on the dismantle the Bengals 41-17 the week after and finish the season by winning the Super Bowl.

Now that Tom Brady has turned 40 though people are starting to doubt him again despite his unprecedented success in the past 3 years for someone of his age and with the talent around him I don't see the Patriots derailing anytime soon. They always bounce back in style and the Saints could be in for a spanking later on today when the two teams meet especially when you look at the holes in their defence. Drew Brees is an outstanding quarterback and one of the top 5 to play the position in the past 10-20 years so he could keep this game close but I expect the Pats to come away with the victory.

Both the Patriots and the Saints lost to teams who's quarterbacks were questioned in Alex Smith and Sam Bradford but the two both outplayed their counterparts with stellar performances so credit needs to be given to both of those guys for their play in week one. Both teams will be looking for a much needed victory to get back to .500 and I think we can expect to see lights out play from the Saints and the Patriots. The key factor here is that New England acquired New Orleans' best weapon in the off-season and I think Brandin Cooks will have a huge game today along with Chris Hogan now that Danny Amendola is out injured. Brady will also look to get Gronk back in the mix after he was shut out for the majority of the game by the Chiefs D.

You can see though that Cooks is the most likely to be the deciding factor when Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro said "We can't let Cooks get a deep ball". This shows that the Saints know how important he could be on those deep plays down the middle and Drew Brees himself knows how speedy the wideout is from their time playing together. Even if he is somehow shutdown today against his former team then the speed of Hogan will exploit the Saints' weak defence. I expect to see a lot of mismatches caused today when New England's offense takes the field and it will be a long day for the Saints.

On the flip side New Orleans 3 keys to victory are for Brees to "have a day" which he is most certainly capable of. Number 2 would be to force turnovers so they can keep their defence fresh and off the field to give Brees and the offense more opportunities to score points which would lead on to key point number 3 which is establishing the run. As key as Drew Brees is to the Saints offense we saw Sean Payton bring Adrian Peterson in over the summer to go along with Mark Ingram and rookie running back Alvin Kamara as New Orleans looks to establish a more balanced attack in order to get this team back to the top of the NFC South and become more successful again. In years gone by Brees has been magnificent but his defence has let him down so the Saints need to improve on their clock management by having a run game and not always go full guns blazing.

If the Saints do establish the run and force turnovers against the Patriots then they could cause an upset plus the Superdome isn't exactly the easiest place to go and win on the road so it won't be easy pickings for the Pats in some peoples opinion. In my opinion though even though it could be a shootout at times between Brady and Brees I think the run game for both teams is key in order to unlock the passing game and whoever manages to establish that will win the game. It could well be a repeat of when the Pats beat the saints 30-27 at Gillette Stadium back in 2013 when Brady hit Kenbrell Tompkins for the game winner with 5 seconds left.

That day the Patriots had the likes of Michael Hoomanawanui who now plays for the Saints and slot receiver Austin Collie on their offense who fun fact is only one of 5 players to catch a pass from both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (Torrance Small, Jermaine Wiggins, Wes Welker and defensive Tackle Dan Klecko are the others). Now though the Patriots have lots of weapon at their disposal and I think they will play a big part in the Patriots getting their first win of the season today. Their defence also has lots of question marks after being torn up by Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Alex Smith but Bill Belichick is a defensive mastermind who will have taken such a horrendous defensive display personally and will want his team to get back to being the juggernaut that we know them to be.

My bold prediction is that either Dion Lewis or James White goes for over 75 total yards and a touchdown today. I'm sticking with Cooks as the deciding factor and he will get a touchdown, I expect Chris Hogan to get in to the mix or at least rack up 50 receiving yards and Gronkowski should at least have a touchdown to his name today. With all of that being said and my analysis above I am going for a New England win today; the Patriots haven't been below .500 after the second week for over 5,000 days and we know how well the Patriots respond after a loss. Now that all the talk of an undefeated season is out of the way following that opening day defeat I think Bill Belichick can get the Patriots to refocus and look forward for the rest of the season... It is unfortunate for the Saints that they are the ones who have to face the Pats a week after such a painful loss.

Prediction: Patriots 34-27 Saints

Kansas City Chiefs vs New England Patriots: Opening Night

The highly anticipated return of the NFL is finally upon us as tonight sees the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the current Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. After the most dramatic end to the season last year which saw Tom Brady and co rally back from a 25 point deficit in the second half of the Super Bowl to beat the Atlanta Falcons (you may have heard about that a few times over the summer) the Patriots now look to get back to business as they aim for a sixth Lombardi trophy and a third title in four years.

The last time I posted /  blogged the Patriots were getting ready to host the Pittsburgh Steelers which was the opening game for the 2015 season; it was that season when the Chiefs and Pats last met with the Patriots winning 27-20 in the AFC divisional round. Within that two year time frame the Pats lost in the AFC title game to Denver in that same playoff year when they beat the Chiefs but came back with a vengeance last season as Tom Brady was banned for four games for his “involvement” in the deflate gate scandal (you may have heard of that as well). The Patriots went 3-1 in his absence and only lost one other game that season as they went 14-2; superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski has his season ended by injury but the Pats still managed to hoist the Lombardi trophy despite being faced with lots of adversity ranging from suspensions to injuries to the hugest of deficits.

One things for sure though and that is the fact that Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and everyone involved in the Patriots organisation will not rest on their laurels following the most spectacular of Super Bowl victories last season. Tom Brady could of ridden of in to the sunset now that he is 40 years old age but he has defied the norm and is playing arguably the best football of his life and some of the best football we’ve seen from anyone at the quarterback position. I find it quite fitting that the Patriots play the Chiefs tonight as it was Chiefs who dismantled New England 41-14 back in September 2014 and that is when all the talk of another title for the Pats was dismissed and some even suggested Brady was done for (who would be stupid enough to say that? Well surprisingly it was quite a few people). Needless to say that provided motivation and kickstarted the Patriots’ season which ultimately ended with a Super Bowl title. Now fast forward and here we are at the start of the 2017 season with Brady being touted as the GOAT (Greatest Of  All Time) now that he has 5 rings and continues to dominate. Now lets look at tonights game and what to expect:

Over the summer the Patriots have added to their roster to make it look even stronger in comparison to last season even with the season ending injury to Tom Brady’s favourite wide receiver Julian Edelman. Brandon Cooks was acquired from the New Orleans Saints and despite rumours that Super Bowl XLIX hero Malcom Butler was linked with a move in the other direction he stayed with the Pats and then Bill Belichick added corner Stephon Gilmore in free agency to make the Pats secondary even stronger. Rob Gronkowski is back from injury and everyone knows how much of a game changer he is on the field; he will be linked up with Dwayne Allen who has arrived from Indianapolis as the Pats look to implement the two tight end set that has been so successful in years gone by with the likes of Aaron Hernandez causing nightmares for opposition defences from 2010-2012 and most recently Martellus Bennett who was a key cog in the Pats passing attack last year especially when Gronk went down. Bennett received his pay day from Green Bay which is why Allen was acquired. 

The Chiefs will be no pushovers though as the current AFC West Champions look to build on their 12-4 season from a year ago which saw them reach the divisional round of the playoffs before losing to Pittsburgh. With the Patriots possessing a high powered offense that is predicted to be so devastating this upcoming season the Chiefs will need their defence to play to their best of their abilities and when they do they are quite devastating themselves as last season they were the best in the league when it came to forcing turnovers with 33 in total. The other key area for tonight is special teams where Kansas Chiefs possess a secret weapon who isn’t so secret now who goes by the name of Tyreek Hill; Hill averaged 27.4 yards per kick return and 15.2 yards per punt return last season and was a breath of fresh air to the Chiefs offense as well as special teams. The Chiefs offense has lacked that spark in years gone by and I expect Hill to have a great year especially with the departure of Jeremy Maclin. Alex Smith needs to rise to the occasion having been deemed as a game manager by many; he is a player who divides opinion and with rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes playing well in pre season Smith will need to look over his shoulder in case of any slip ups especially in a division that includes the Broncos, Raiders and Chargers where many slip ups can’t be afforded.

It is safe to say that Kansas City are at a bit of a crossroads this season as they need to take the next step to really progress; they have a very capable coach with one of the best football minds in the game and Andy Reid has helped reshape the franchise in to somewhat of a contender and he obviously drafted Mahomes with one eye on the future. With that being said he is a big believer in Alex Smith and despite Smith’s critics did you know that since he arrived in KC back in 2013 Smith has overseen 41 wins which is third in total in the NFL behind only Russell Willson with 43 and tonights opponent Tom Brady with 47 (no surprised there). If Kansas City are to silence any doubters and indeed take that next step then what better way than to knock off the Super Bowl champs on opening night? Well that won;t be such an easy feat as New England have won their past eight home openers played on opening weekend and in Tom Brady’s past 43 games against AFC opponents he is 41-2 including the postseason.

Many have tried to take on the Patriots and many have fallen but of course in the NFL anything is possible. Andy Reid will have spent at least the past 4 months wondering how he can stop this Patriots offense especially when you see that KC’s secondary is quite thin so they’ll have to be very wary of the likes of Cooks, Gronk and Chris Hogan tearing them up If the Patriots get going early on then it could be messy to watch for anyone associated with the Chiefs especially as the crowd will be pumped up to celebrate the Lombardi Trophy being paraded around the field before kick off. The key thing about that is though is that Brady and Belichick won’t let that distract them, in fact with all the experience and success they have now I find it hard to believe that anything distracts them and with their eyes on the prize to win another Super Bowl and create another dynasty well I think that tonight the Pats will put out a warning to the rest of the league with a convincing victory.

Prediction: Chiefs 17, Patriots 37