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Carrie Stroup here with your Monday Night Football betting preview and the Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots spread, now at -16.5 after opening at -14.5. I don’t have to tell you who is favored here. Bet this game at Sportsbook.com and tell them Carrie Stroup sent you. Be sure to claim your FREE CASH up to $250.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: New England -16.5 & 47
Opening Line & Total: Patriots -14.5 & 47.5
The Chiefs look to get back in the win column, but that will be quite a tall task without their quarterback and playing on the road against a confident New England team.
There was a lot of concern about the Patriots during their two-game losing streak, but they silenced the doubters with a dismantling of the Jets on the road last Sunday night. Tom Brady (NFL-best 337 pass YPG) looks to be on the top of his game as they get ready to host a Chiefs team that looked woefully unprepared in back-to-back home losses to Miami and Denver, scoring a total of 13 points. And while the injury-riddled New England defense has been shaky for the most part this season, the Chiefs will start back-up QB Tyler Palko in place of injured Matt Cassel (hand). If the Patriots front seven play like they did on Sunday night, there’s no way Palko will have the time to exploit New England’s shaky secondary. And K.C.’s weak pass rush (NFL-low nine sacks) will not be able to pressure Brady into making bad throws.
Kansas City will need to pound the football to have any chance to keep this game close. The Patriots rank ninth in the NFL against the run (103 YPG), but in the past five weeks, the Chiefs have averaged 135 rushing YPG. RB Jackie Battle has been the workhorse, with 366 yards on 77 carries (4.8 YPC) during this span, but speedy RB/WR combo Dexter McCluster is coming off his best game of the year, rushing six times for 48 yards, and catching eight passes for 45 yards. WR Dwayne Bowe also has to make much more noise than he did last week against Denver (2 catches for 17 yards), for the Chiefs to sustain drives through the air. Bowe has 663 receiving yards this year, good for fifth-most in the AFC.
New England is carrying a four-game home win streak over K.C., scoring 32.0 PPG in these victories. But the Chiefs have covered the spread in two of those meetings. Brady has always been a big-game performer, especially with the Monday night spotlight shining on him. In 15 career Monday games, Brady has thrown for 279 YPG with 35 TD and 14 INT. More importantly, he has won 11 of these 15 contests. WR Wes Welker, the only 1,000-yard receiver in the NFL this year, has also enjoyed Monday action. He caught eight passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in the team’s last Monday night appearance in Week 1 at Miami. As if the Patriots weren’t banged up enough in the secondary this year, they received more bad news this week as top CB Devin McCourty (shoulder) was placed on IR. And their most valuable defensive back, S Patrick Chung, is questionable with a knee injury that forced him to miss the Jets game.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
