This Week
The New England Patriots host the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m in the season opener for each team.
Last year the Patriots were 8-0 at the Razor and 12-0 against the AFC and finished the regular season 16-0. The Chiefs, were 2-6 on the road last year and 3-9 against the AFC and finished 4-12 overall.
Here are the rosters for the Chiefs and Patriots.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -15.5. The over/under is 44.
My prediction is Patriots 27, Chiefs, 10. Give the points and take the under. I was 9-7 against the spread last year in the regular season and 0-3 against the spead in the playoffs. I called the the over/under twelve out of sixteen times in 2007. And was 1 of 3 in the playoffs.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 152nd consecutive sellout dating back to the 1994 season opener. The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS is televising the game regionally and Greg Gumbel will do the play-by-play and Dan Dierdorf will handle the game analysis. You can see if you are getting the game and look for your local CBS Station.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access debuts tonight at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 147, the Chiefs Radio Network call with Mitch Holthus doing play-by-play and Len Dawson with analysis is available on Channel 126.
The game will also be carried nationally on Westwood One. Bill Rosinski and Dan Reeves will call the action.
Last Week
The Patriots lost to the Giants 19-14 in the Meadowlands to conclude the preseason at 0-4. The Chiefs beat the Rams 21-17 at Arrowhead Stadium to wrap up the preseason 2-2.
History
- This is the 31st meeting between the clubs and the third season opener but the first since 1977. The Chiefs lead the all-time series with a 16-11-3 record against New England.
- The last time the two teams met was in 2005 when Kansas City defeated New England 26-16 in Week 12 at Arrowhead Stadium.
- The last time Kansas City played in Foxboro was in 2002 with New England winning 41-38 in OT.
Connections
- Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards is very familiar with the Patriots as he served as their division rival New York Jets head coach from 2001-05. Edwards compiled a 2-8 record against the Patriots during that span.
- Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards, while the Jets head coach, made Patriots running back LaMont Jordan his second draft pick as a head coach when he was taken with the 49th overall pick in the second round of the 2001 draft. Jordan played for Edwards from 2001-04.
- Patriots quarterback Tom Brady set career highs with 410 passing yards and 39 completions in a 41-38 overtime win over Kansas City on Sept. 22, 2002.
- Kansas City quarterback Damon Huard was with the Patriots from 2001-03 and was on New England’s 2001 and 2003 Super Bowl championship teams.
- Patriots offensive tackle Wesley Britt protected Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle at the University of Alabama from 2001-04. Britt’s protection helped Croyle set a number of school records, including career passing yards (6,382) and touchdowns (41).
- Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas and Chiefs cornerback Patrick Surtain were teammates at the University Southern Mississippi.
- Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo and Chiefs tight end Brad Cottam are both rookies out of the University of Tennessee.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Chiefs. You can also see what Kansas City head coach Herm Edwards had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
Here is the injury list for the game.
On Thursday the Patriots re-signed recently cut TE Stephen Spach and cut TE Jason Pociask who they claimed off waivers this past weekend from the New York Jets. They also cut TE Tyson DeVree from the practice squad and added P Reggie Hodges in his place.
This is Tom Brady’s 128th consecutive start including the playoffs. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. He is 86-24 in his career during the regular season and 14-3 in the playoffs. He is 100-27 overall.
Brady is 2-1 in his career against Kansas City. He is 53-10 at home and 40-2 on artificial turf.
Including playoff games, since December 17, 2006 the Patriots are 23-2, since September 10, 2006 they are 32-6.
Overall the team is 46-9 at home since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 and have allowed only 15.35 points per game. Both are best in the league in that time span.
The Patriots have 7 consecutive winning seasons and have made the playoffs six times in eight seasons under Bill Belichick.
New England has won five of it’s last six season openers including the last four.
The Patriots have won 19 consecutive regular season games in a row. It is the longest reguar season win streak in NFL history eclipsing the Patriots 18 game winning streak set in 2003-2004.
New England announced its team captains on Friday they are: (Offense) QB Tom Brady, WR Randy Moss, LT Matt Light, (Defense) LB Tedy Bruschi, LB Mike Vrabel, NT Vince Wilfork, S Rodney Harrison and (Special Teams) LB Larry Izzo.
News from this weeks opponent:
The Kansas City Chiefs were woeful last season. They headed into the bye in Week 8 with a 4-3 record and proceeded to lose all nine games after the bye.
The Chiefs haven’t won a playoff game since 1993 when they beat Pittsburgh in the Wild Card game at Arrowhead Stadium 27-24, then upset the Houston Oilers on the road 28-20 before losing the AFC Championship game in Buffalo 30-13.
Since those playoff wins the Chiefs have been one and done in 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003 and 2006.
Last season’s four wins were the lowest total for a Kansas City team since 1988 when they won four games under Frank Gansz, Sr. The next season Marty Schottenheimer took over leading them to 9 consecutive winning seasons.
The Chiefs have made dramatic changes to their roster entering the 2008 campaign. Kansas City currently has 10 selections from the 2008 NFL Draft on its 53-man roster. The Chiefs 2008 first round pick was LSU defensive end Glenn Dorsey (5th overall).
TE Tony Gonzalez and DE Jared Allen were the only two Pro-Bowlers from the Chiefs in 2007. Allen was also chosen as a first team All-Pro.
The Chiefs have not won in Foxboro since December of 1990 when they beat the Patriots 37-7. Overall they are 1-5 against New England on the road. 0-1 in Gillette Stadium and 2-4 at Sullivan/Schaefer/Foxboro Stadium.
Kansas City and New England have never faced each other in the post season. The Patriots are the only original AFL team to have never played the Chiefs in the playoffs.
Chiefs QB Brody Croyle’s wife, Kelli is the 2005 America Junior Miss but her husband is 0-6 in his career as a starter.
Next Week
The New England Patriots travel to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford NJ to face the New York Jets and Brett Favre. Kickoff is at 4:15 p.m. and you can see the game on CBS.
