Why the New England Patriots can beat the Kansas City Chiefs

The early line is New England laying five points at home, which means that Vegas sees the Chiefs as a two-point underdog at a neutral site.

Teams are bound to draw hard matchups in the playoffs – it is the playoffs, after all – but should the Chiefs want to continue their fairy-tale-like season, which absolutely nobody expected, they should be cheering on Ben Roethlisberger instead of AJ McCarron.

The first reason is that the Kansas City Chiefs are in momentum counts and hence have a huge advantage.

The New England Patriots host the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs on Saturday, January 16 start time at 4:35 PM ET, at Gillette Stadium. Running back Jeremy Hill fumbled, and Roethlisberger re-entered the game to engineer a last minute field goal drive, aided by two 15-yard personal fouls by Bengals defenders.

On the season, the New England Patriots average 286.7 yards in passing and 87.8 yards in rushing. They beat up on Tom Brady in a 41-14 victory. That’s a major hit for Kansas City.

The Kansas City Chiefs (12-5) are coming from a 30-0 win over the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round. Denver racked up six more takeaways and two more interceptions than New England, as cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib were selected to the Pro Bowl.