Funny Kansas City Chiefs Patriots Memes 2019

Back in October, the Chiefs made the trip up to New England and left Foxborough with the first loss of their 2018 season. In January, Kansas City will have the chance to earn its revenge on the grand stage of the AFC Championship game — and Andy Reid's team will get to do it in the hostile confines of Arrowhead Stadium.

A pair of Divisional Round blowouts set up a rematch between two of the league's hottest teams, and the Chiefs will have the opportunity to prove they didn't lose that Week 6 shootout — they just ran out of time.

Kansas City couldn't blemish the Patriots' perfect home record that week, as Tom Brady outdueled likely MVP Patrick Mahomes in a 43-40 win that erased any concerns raised by early losses to the Jaguars and Lions. Stephen Gostkowski's 28-yard field goal cleared the uprights as time expired to show the world the Chiefs were mortal and prove Brady's championship window hadn't closed yet.

That scoring bonanza was one of the best games of the 2018 season, even if the Chiefs-Rams Monday Night Football game one month later quickly reduced it to an afterthought.

Mahomes vs. Brady, round 1

Player	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	Rate
Player	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	Rate
Patrick Mahomes	23	36	352	4	2	0	0	110
Tom Brady	24	35	340	1	0	2	13	109.2

Sunday's AFC title game will be a familiar one, and there's much more to watch than just the Chiefs' revenge narrative when a trip to the Super Bowl is on the line.

The Patriots' blitz-heavy pass rush won't work against the Chiefs

The Patriots will have to rethink the defensive strategy against the Chargers that kept Philip Rivers peeling himself off the turf all afternoon on Sunday. New England brought a fierce pass rush all afternoon, relying on zero-coverage schemes that asked the team's defensive backs to stand out in man coverage while adding extra blitzers up front.

The Patriots pressure on Philip Rivers has been the key to the first half. No QB has faced a higher rate of pressure than Rivers in a game this season (71%).

No Pressure: 5/5, 100 yards, 1 TD (158.3 passer rating)
Pressure: 2/11, 21 yards (39.6 passer rating)#LACvsNE | #GoPats pic.twitter.com/hU97P5sDS5

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 13, 2019

Patrick Mahomes isn't Philip Rivers. The second-year quarterback pushed himself to a probable MVP award behind his ability to whip quick passes, escape pressure, and make plays on the run that look like late-stage Brett Favre throws but end in early-form Brett Favre outcomes.

We saw that Saturday when he torched the Colts for 278 yards on a day when he didn't have to do much through the air. We've also seen it throughout the 2018 season.

Patrick Mahomes vs. the Steelers blitz (@PFF)

8/12
126 yards
2 TDs
141 passer rating

— Arrowhead Pride (@ArrowheadPride) September 18, 2018

Mahomes was 16 of 22 for 180 yards when the Ravens sent five or more rushers back in December. That means New England is going to have to focus on its coverage next Sunday — a task All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore, undrafted free agent find J.C. Jackson, and a rejuvenated Jason McCourty should be up for.

Sony Michel can gash the Chiefs' league-worst rushing defense

While Mahomes-Brady may be the headliner, Michel vs. Kansas City's deficient run defense will be one of Sunday's most interesting matchups. The rookie has emerged as the Patriots' best running back since Corey Dillon patrolled the backfield in Foxborough, racking up 935 yards in 13 regular season games and then breaking out for 129 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Los Angeles.

Michel had the best game of his budding career Sunday, shredding the Chargers behind a dominant effort from his offensive line. The Patriots blocked LA into oblivion, sealing off lanes at the line of scrimmage and bullying defensive backs in the second level en route to four rushing touchdowns ...

in the first half.

While Rob Gronkowski didn't have much of an impact in the passing game (one catch, 25 yards), he was a dynamic blocker who paved the road for Michel up front. He and fullback James Develin were a bruising complement to the Pats' rushing offense — and New England's success running the ball set up a handful of explosive play-action passes that pushed the home team to a 35-7 lead at halftime.

the Patriots are just blocking the Chargers' defensive line into oblivion, which is why Sony Michel has 95 yards in 24 minutes of game time and New England has 3 rushing TDs pic.twitter.com/cEACfBfXDe

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) January 13, 2019

The Chargers came into Sunday's game allowing 4.3 yards per carry, the 11th-best mark in the league. Next week, Michel will face the Chiefs, who allowed 5.0 yards per touch in 2018 — the dead-on worst in the NFL. But Kansas City's defense is surging after locking down the Colts in the Divisional Round, and a similar performance in the AFC title game could take the ball out of Michel's hands and force Brady to throw his team back into the game.

Julian Edelman and James White snuffed out concerns about the Pats' receivers

The Chiefs will be successful if they're able to force Brady into a position where he throws 40+ passes; New England was 2-2 in the regular season in those situations.

The indefinite suspension of wideout Josh Gordon put an additional strain on an already weakened receiving corps. Brady averaged 8.1 yards per pass attempt with Gordon serving as a field-stretching, safety-occupying deep threat. Without him, that number fell to 6.5.

That's troubling for New England, but veteran wideout Julian Edelman stepped up in a big way to assuage those concerns. Edelman had his typically-efficient season in 2018, leading the Patriots with 850 receiving yards despite sitting out the first four games of the year due to a PED suspension. On Sunday, he rose up for his biggest performance of the season — a nine-catch, 151-yard showcase that pushed him ahead of some lofty company in the league's postseason record book.

Edelman wasn't the only receiver to step up. Tailback James White benefitted from his team's early focus on short passes, tying the NFL postseason record with 15 receptions to keep the Patriot offense churning out of the backfield. His ability to haul in screen passes and turn modest gains into first downs extended drives early and set up big plays downfield late.

That pairing can be a major weapon for Brady's passing offense, but the Chiefs have one defensive trait that's traditionally been Brady's kryptonite...

Kansas City's pass rush could be the difference maker

The Chiefs bullied Andrew Luck into one of his worst performances of the season Saturday, sacking him three times and hitting him six more as it took Indianapolis 28+ minutes to earn its first first down. Kansas City's defense has dealt with plenty of problems in 2018, but attacking the quarterback hasn't been one of them.

The Chiefs have earned sacks on 7.6 percent of opponent dropbacks, the eighth-best mark in the league. That pressure comes from several different points. Chris Jones emerged as an All-Pro interior lineman after recording a career-high 15.5 sacks and 29 QB hits. Dee Ford and Justin Houston teamed up in the second level to pinch pockets shut en route to 22 sacks and 41 hits, even though Houston missed four games this fall.

Los Angeles was unable to bother Brady Sunday, sacking him zero times and hitting him only twice. That gave him the latitude to throw for 300+ yards on a day where his running game managed to do much of the offense's heavy lifting.

But making Brady uncomfortable has been a championship blueprint in years' past. The Giants bullied the veteran quarterback into uneven performances in a pair of Super Bowl victories that established Eli Manning's legacy in the process. The Lions hit him eight times to limit him to just 126 passing yards back in September. The Titans drove him into the turf 10 times in an emphatic 34-10 win months later.

Kansas City has the pass rushing linebackers to keep Brady dancing in the pocket, and while they only hit Brady five times the first time these two sides met, that was without Houston in the lineup. On Sunday, his return to the pass rush and the Chiefs' ability to crumple the Patriots' pocket could be the difference between a trip to the Super Bowl and a 2-11 postseason record since 1993.

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Source: https://www.sbnation.com/2019/1/13/18181027/patriots-chiefs-afc-championship-preview-tom-brady-patrick-mahomes-so-many-touchdowns

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