A tough test at any time

Sep 04, 2008, 4:35:52 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ

If you have to play the New England Patriots, do you want to play them right off the bat?

Not that the Chiefs had a choice when they could play the team that finished 18-1 a year ago. But it’s a fun question to kick around.

For the Chiefs, Sunday is as good a time as any to visit the Patriots because:

There is never more parity in the NFL than at the start of the season. Most teams are not yet in sync, which has a leveling effect. And most teams haven’t experienced enough injuries to test the quality of their depth.

There’s no better time to catch the popular Super Bowl pick napping. The Patriots’ record in openers under Bill Belichick is 5-3 (.625), which doesn’t measure up to his overall regular-season record, 91-37 (.711). He lost openers in 2001 and 2003, both Super Bowl-winning seasons.

If you have a young team that might come down with opening-game nerves, you might as well suffer them when an extra mistake or two may not make a difference. Better to work out the butterflies against the Patriots, a heavy favorite, than a week later at Arrowhead against the Oakland Raiders, whom the Chiefs most likely will be favored to beat.

Tom Brady, the Patriots’ quarterback who is bound for the Hall of Fame, did not play during the preseason because of a lingering foot injury. Better to face him when he might be a tad rusty and less mobile than usual than when he’s back in peak form.

If the Chiefs are a lot better than most people think, the Patriots won’t realize that until it’s too late. It will be tough for them to get in a Super Bowl mindset against a team that finished 4-12 last season. Or they may get caught looking ahead to their first AFC East game a week later, against Brett Favre and the New York Jets.

On the other hand, this is the worst possible time for the Chiefs to play the Patriots because:

This is the Patriots’ first game that counts since their shocking Super Bowl loss to the Giants. The Patriots had the entire offseason to stew and their first regular-season opponent can expect them to come out determined to show the home crowd that they aim to make amends.

The Patriots haven’t stubbed their toes lately on opening day. They’ve won their last four opening games, including a 38-14 road win against the Jets last September.

If the Patriots prove to be the same powerhouse they were a year ago, Herm Edwards’ youngsters may start thinking that every opponent will be this much of a bear. Jim Parker of the Baltimore Colts was among the best offensive linemen of all time but as a rookie in 1957 he had the misfortune to play his second game against the Chicago Bears’ Doug Atkins – a pass rusher so huge, strong and mean that Parker said he wanted to quit until his coaches convinced him he wouldn’t be seeing anybody like Atkins every week.

Early September provides optimum conditions for the passing game, which the Patriots offensively do best. Better to play at New England in a December blizzard, when it’s time for the running game, which is what the Chiefs expect to do best.

In three of the past five years, Belichick’s team has finished 8-0 at home, which pretty much explains why there is no good time for the Chiefs, or anybody else, to drop in on the Patriots.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

---

A former sportswriter and columnist in Kansas City and Miami, Rand has covered the NFL for three decades and seen 23 Super Bowl games. His column appears twice weekly in-season.