New England Patriots: Should Fans Want to Face Steelers or Chiefs?
With the New England Patriots awaiting the winner of Sunday’s game, should they hope to see the Pittsburgh Steelers or Kansas City Chiefs?
As expected, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots handled their business against the Houston Texans on Saturday night in the Divisional Round. Though it was closer than expected in the first half, both sides of the ball turned it up a notch in the second half to pull away. Now the Patriots have punched yet another ticket to the AFC Championship Game. They’ll be at Gillette Stadium awaiting the winner of Sunday’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers.
If you’re the Patriots or a fan, though, not all matchups are created equal. Even against the Texans, this New England team showed that they have flaws that can be exploited. So that leaves the team and fans with the simple question of if they’d rather face the Chiefs or Steelers for the right to play in Super Bowl LI.
The Patriots matched up with the Steelers in Week 7, going into Heinz Field and picking up a huge victory. However, there’s truthfully not much that we can gauge from that matchup as it was Landry Jones at quarterback for Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger injured. Subsequently, we have to look a bit deeper for answers.
What New England showed in Saturday night’s victory over the Texans is that their defense is certainly susceptible. If a team has a quarterback with more talent than Brock Osweiler, both their linebackers and secondary can be had. Houston’s receivers were open quite often against the Patriots, but either bad throws or poor decisions by Osweiler were detrimental to the Texans. For the Steelers, though, Roethlisberger is far better than Osweiler.
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Perhaps more importantly than that, the Steelers offensive line has performed phenomenally this season. While the Texans didn’t have that luxury to control the game in the trenches, Pittsburgh very well could. And with a weapon like Le’Veon Bell behind them, that creates another potential advantage for the Steelers.
On the other side of the ball, though, the Steelers don’t necessarily have the defense that can stifle the Patriots offense. While players like Bud Dupree even the aging James Harrison, those guys aren’t Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus. Subsequently, Brady wouldn’t be under the same duress that he was against Houston that caused him issues early on.
When looking at a possible showdown with the Chiefs, though, that would be an issue. Whether Justin Houston would be there or not, the likes of Dee Ford on the edge and Chris Jones and Dontari Poe up the middle could indeed get after Brady and pressure the legendary quarterback. What’s more, the Kansas City secondary have proven to be ball-hawks all season long. Considering that pressure forced the Patriots signal-caller into two interceptions (matching his regular season total), that again looks like something that the Chiefs could find success with on defense.
Offensively, though, the Chiefs present a bit of a quandary. While they’ve shown some explosiveness thanks to Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, it’s far from consistent in their offense. Alex Smith is still the same player, Andy Reid still has the earned reputation of fouling things up in the playoffs, and their running game is still mundane. Therefore, their offense could be in trouble if their defense allows Brady and Co. to find any kind of rhythm.
Next: Falcons: Are Packers or Cowboys the Better Matchup?
Both the Chiefs and the Steelers have advantages that they can exploit against the Patriots. However, the biggest weakness and/or flaw of New England all season has been a beatable defense. Subsequently, it’d be far more fearsome for the Pats to have to face a powder-keg waiting to explode on offense like the Steelers with the Killer Bs. In the end, that makes the Chiefs the more favorable matchup. After seeing 60 minutes against the Texans, though, I’m not sure the Patriots are as confident against either as they once might’ve been.