As is tradition, the 2017 NFL season kicks off Week 1 with a Thursday night showcase of two of the best, but who will be playing this year?
The reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will open the 2017 NFL season at Gillette Stadium to defend their championship on Thursday, Sept. 7. We’ve seen this in recent years, the defending champion opening the season on Thursday night. However, their Week 1 opponent will be quite intriguing as they face the Kansas City Chiefs, the winners of the AFC West last season.
New England is coming off a 2016 season where they defeated the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, 34-28, in overtime. The championship was not only historic as they became the fourth team to win at least five Super Bowls, but they were the winners of the first one to go into overtime.
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The Patriots offseason has been very interesting as head coach Bill Belichick made some noise by not re-signing tight end Martellus Bennett, but traded with the Indianapolis Colts twice this offseason, acquiring tight end Dwayne Allen (for a draft pick) and wide receiver Phillip Dorsett (for quarterback Jacoby Brissett).
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New England has even faced some adversity too with the retirement of linebacker Rob Ninkovich and losing both wide receiver Julian Edelman and cornerback Cyrus Jones to torn ACLs.
On the bright side, the Patriots have the best and most successful quarterback in the NFL in Tom Brady, and whenever he’s on the field, the Patriots have a chance to earn the win. Rob Gronkowski also returns at tight end after missing the second half of the season and all of the playoffs.
On the other side, the Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a 12-4 season and their first AFC West championship since 2010.
Having Andy Reid as their head coach, the Chiefs have built quite a franchise but just haven’t put things together in the playoffs, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers (following a first-round bye) in the divisional round, 18-16.
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Entering this season, the Chiefs will have to be just as strong or even stronger to win the AFC West. They have quarterback Alex Smith returning under center, but they also drafted his potential replacement in Patrick Mahomes in the first round, though he’s listed as the top backup entering Week 1.
The Chiefs lost starting running back Spencer Ware for at least the 2017 season during the preseason with a torn MCL and PCL, but rookie Kareem Hunt seems to be the guy taking over that spot on the roster.
Even with the loss of their top running back, the Chiefs do have their All-Pro second-year wide receiver Tyreek Hill returning from a season where he had 61 receptions for 593 yards and six touchdowns, He also rushed for 267 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.
Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Week 1
The Patriots vs, Chiefs will air nationally on NBC with the kickoff for the first Thursday Night Football game of the season scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.