Brady, Pats set to face streaking Chiefs

For the first time in two months Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman is expected to be back on the playing field with his teammates as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. New England stumbled through the end of the season, losing their final two games, which cost them home field throughout the playoffs. The guys that the offensive line has to limit are Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, both of whom are questionable for the game. One sign of their solid roster was that a handful of players they cut moved on to get jobs with other teams. Although Smith made some important plays against the Texans, the Chiefs won in large part because the Texans offense was abysmal. “Its a long time coming for me, ” Jackson said.

An uncommonly deep roster has carried the Kansas City Chiefs to the divisional round of the National Football League playoffs.

New England center Bryan Stork is questionable to return against the Kansas City Chiefs with an ankle injury. West led the Chiefs with 634 rushing yards, and Ware averaged an impressive 5.6 yards per carry, which was better than the 5.1 yards Charles averaged before his injury.

The Patriots’ biggest weakness all season has been their offensive line, and they need to find a way to give Brady enough time to operate against a Chiefs defense that ranked fourth in the league with 47 sacks.

On the flip side, the Patriots offense lives and dies with Tom Brady.

The Patriots are no strangers to this position having played in four consecutive AFC Championship games.

A week of distractions for the Patriots… although they won’t tell you it was distracting. I picked against the Pack last week and paid the price for it, but Arizona just looks like more than they can handle, particularly on the road.

Tempo and four-wide receiver spread sets have been effective tools for Brady and the offense against strong 3-4 defenses this season, and without a true lead back to control the clock, they’ll likely go for the upper hand by dictating the Chiefs use nickel personnel.

The Chiefs also have some potentially serious injury issues. “We’ve got to figure out a way, and it’s not like there’s a great example on film”.

“I think those players are all mentally tough and they’re very well coached and they’ve got a lot of top players, so I’ve got a lot of respect for them as a team, as an organization”, Brady said. I would hope that Devin McCourty however, who is also suffering from a high ankle sprain, shades that direction, because Maclin has break away speed.