Patriots Biggest Favorites of the Season against Chiefs Tonight!

Tonight’s Monday Night Football game once again shows how only a pointspread can make some games interesting. Frank Doyle reports.

Kansas City is a huge sports betting underdog tonight at Foxborough. You can take the Chiefs with seventeen points tonight, which makes Kansas City the biggest underdog of the year so far. Kansas City’s nearest competitor in the big dog stakes is St Louis, which was +16.5 at Green Bay in Week 6. The Rams failed to cover as Green Bay rolled them over, 24-3.

The Chiefs were always going to be underdogs of course, but the seventeen points is also a reaction to the news that Chiefs’ quarterback Matt Cassel is on the IR after injuring his throwing hand against Denver. He’s probably gone for the season and he’s definitely gone for tonight.

Cassel led the Chiefs to the playoffs last year and booked himself a place in the Pro Bowl in the process. Not only that, Cassel was the guy who came from nowhere to fill for Tom Brady when Brady hurt his knee in 2008 and led the Patriots to an 11-5 record. Cassel is a huge loss to Kansas City.

The man who has to fill in for Cassel is Tyler Palko, a fourth year pro for whom Kansas City is his third team. Palko has the comfort of knowing that the Patriots defense isn’t the deadliest in the league, and that the Chiefs bring a solid running game with Jackie Battles and Thomas Jones.

Palko is a downgrade at quarterback, but the Chiefs can live with that, thanks to the backfield. Where the Chiefs will struggle will be on defense. They could struggle mightily there.

Kansas City is 23rd in total defense and is averaging one sack a game this year. That’s not likely to make Tom Brady break out in a cold sweat. Brady can sit back in the pocket all night, waiting for his receivers to get open, and inflict the death of a thousand cuts on the Chiefs defense. If Tom Brady has time he’ll destroy any team in the League.

The relationship between the Patriots and the ex-Patriots who work for the Chiefs, like GM Scott Pioli or offensive co-ordinator Romeo Crennel, is something that bettors should also take into account. What will Bill Belichick’s attitude to them be?

Will Belichick show mercy and pull his starters, or would he consider that an insult to his former team-mates and tell Brady not to take his foot off the gas as a sign of respect? An intangible that could decide whether or not the Chiefs can cover tonight.

Follow Sports Interaction on Twitter!