Monday Night Football in prime time will see the Kansas City Chiefs travel to take on the New England Patriots. The game is scheduled for an 8:30 pm kickoff and will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the odds are favoring the Patriots in this contest. New England is favored by 16.5 points with the total being set at 46.5 for the game. New England enters tonight's game as a heavy favorite, especially with Kansas City Chief QB Matt Cassel sitting on the sidelines.
Free Analysis: New England won last week over the New York Jets to break a mini 2-game losing streak. Those game were both against quality teams in the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers. Whether or not they get up for a game like this will determine just how bad they beat the Chiefs. Kansas City has fallen on hard times for sure, losers of two in a row after a nice 4-game span where they beat Minnesota, Indy, Oakland and San Diego. The Chiefs are a nice story, hanging around when they are probably outclassed. However, the rest of the season looks anything but pretty for Todd Haley and that group. Kansas City finishes with New England tonight, Pittsburgh, Chicago, the Jets, Packers, Raiders and Broncos. It's not easy and I think they will become overwhelmed pretty easily. That being said, tonight's game is a major problem for the Chiefs. QB Tyler Palko has thrown just seven passes this season and he's been unproven to say the least. But he's going to have to keep it close. When the Chiefs lose, they lost big. Despite having been outscored 157-40 in their losses, the Chiefs (4-5) are still just a game out in the West. That's nuts. New England currently sits in first play in the AFC East and Tom Brady should be ready to go in this one. Their defense is playing well at this time as well and tonight's matchup with the Chiefs should only help things. Palko is not going to be able to throw the football, even though the Pats have a less than good secondary. Their pass rush did actually improve last week against New York, and I'm expecting them to get after the Chiefs signal-caller tonight. New England is going to score points, we know that. It's just how many that needs to be answered. I'm saying a lot.
Free Pick: Wow I can't believe the Patriots are three possession favorites in this game. Don't get me wrong, I know the Chiefs are in a bad spot here, but 17 points is a ton. This total tells us a lot about what's going to happen as well. If Kansas City is able to score, this should go way over the number. However, just how much can we expect from Palko in his first start? I'll go ahead and take the UNDER in this contest, knowing New England should be in the 31-35 range. I'm not expecting Kansas City to score many points.
Free Picks: Chiefs at Patriots Betting
Patriots suffering defensive let down after last week and Effect of backup QB for Chiefs plus other factors NFL bettors need to know about Chiefs at Patriots (Monday, November 21, 2011) from Pregame.com - Including predictions from Marco D'Angelo and analysis from host RJ Bell.