Julian Edelman returning to action versus Kansas City Chiefs

Before Edelman went down with the injury, he was the leading receiver for New England as the team went on to win its first 10 games, but in his absence went 3-4 to close the regular season. They’ve done it with a standout defense and surprisingly good quarterback play from the ever-improving Alex Smith. The play itself was new, and only Maclin had practiced it. The stats for No. 2 receiver Albert Wilson are less than half – 35 catches, 451 yards, two touchdowns. Belichick yanked Brady early in the fourth quarter when safety Husain Abdullah grabbed an interception and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown. As important as Rob Gronkowski is to him, Edelman, with 692 yards and 7 touchdowns this season, is what really makes Brady move this offense, giving him the ability for quick passes without getting into too much trouble, especially with the issues the offensive line has been having in the final six weeks, which was shown quite vividly in the loss against the Miami Dolphins, a place the Patriots often have trouble winning in.

“I think there are different tools at different times for different players”, he said. “Every year is different, but going in I have some experience about how these games are going to be, about where you should be”.

“Collectively, it’s a good defense, not predicated on any one guy, but they all play well together and they have a lot of good players”.

There are 30 Chiefs remaining on the roster this week who played in that game, 25 of those players took part. Not bad. He also leads all playoff pass catchers with 128-yards. Chiefs WR Jeremy Maclin (sprained ankle) walked around the locker room with a slight limp Tuesday. “He kind of knows what coverage when he can run, when he should stay in the pocket and get the ball to the open guy, so he’s definitely going to be a tough challenge to go along with all the other quarterbacks we’ve faced this season”. He’s also one of the most durable quarterbacks, he played in all 16 games for the 13th time in his career. A hyperextended knee injury kept him out of the regular season’s last five games. Coordinator Bob Sutton’s scheme made Hoyer very uncomfortable and he was sacked three times.

It all starts with quarterback Tom Brady for the Patriots offense. Edelman underwent surgery the next day, with a screw inserted into the affected bone.

After a dominant performance against the Texans last week, Kansas City’s defensive unit is playing with a lot of confidence. “It will all come down to how we match up and how we perform against the Chiefs”. It still seems possible that Bill Belichick was hit by one of his players in an argument, it is just unclear who did it, as the Patriot’s website points out. That was the best scoring opportunity the Texans had in the game, but it was wiped out by an interception. They’re essentially saying this game will be a coin flip. Watt ended up taking a direct snap and he lost a yard. A little over two months ago, New England would have likely won in a landslide. Excellent blocking on the left side of the return team allowed Davis to sprint into the end zone without being touched.