December 16, 2023
By Fred Liggett
sports.lstribune08@gmail.com
Seeing the Kansas City Chiefs have a game with the New England Patriots in Mid-December is bound to make many NFL fans circle the date on their calendars. The Chiefs visit to the Patriots was slated to be the Monday Night Football game for week 14 schedule. However the game was flexed to an ordinary noon Sunday kick off after both teams enter with disappointing results so far this season.
No national ESPN coverage of this matchup featuring the Chiefs owners of three Super Bowls and the Patriots who own six Super Bowl titles. Instead a regional audience will view this game on Fox. The Chiefs enter at 8-5 and for the first time in a long time owners of a two game losing streak. The Patriots come in at 3-10 and a win last week that ended a long five game losing streak. This noon on a Sunday stuff is so foreign to these two successful franchises that the last time they met at this time of day was in 2008.
While the coaching matchup between Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is must see TV for NFL fans the QB battle is not. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes will be on one sideline while Patriots QB Bailey Zappe goes for the Patriots. Wednesday practices showed the Chiefs still missing RB Isiah Pacheco and OL Donovan Smith. The Patriots put seven team members on the injury report to show the team will be less than 100%. One of the names is a familiar one to Chiefs fans in that WR JuJu Smith-Schuster who has an ankle injury.
This week the Patriots took questions about Taylor Swift being at the game and the coaching future of Belichick. Rumors have swirled that this is the final season for the longtime head coach. Meanwhile the Chiefs took questions about a troubling playoff picture. Thanks to back to back losses the Chiefs sit behind Baltimore and Miami in the race for the AFC Playoff top seed. Chiefs also enjoy just a one game lead in the AFC West division.
The Chiefs will be taking the field this week as a mad and hungry team something they have been battling against the past couple of weeks. Patriots are just finishing out the string and wanting to play well just to keep their jobs in 2024. Look for the Chiefs offensive woes to take a break for one week and the defense to play well enough to allow the Chiefs to take back home to KC a much needed victory. That’s What I REID Into It for this week.
