Patriots In A Rare Spot As 7-Point Underdogs Vs. Chiefs
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Kansas City Chiefs are the defending champs and the best team in football after three weeks. And even though it won't be packed with raucous fans, Arrowhead Stadium is still a pretty tough place for opponents to play.
Because of all of that, the New England Patriots find themselves seven-point underdogs heading into their Week 4 showdown with the Chiefs. That's not a spot the team usually finds itself in, at least not since the franchise started winning Super Bowls back in 2002.
This is just the third time that New England has been given at least a touchdown by the sportsbooks over the last 18 years, according to ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss. The other two instances had some interesting circumstances surrounding them.
The most recent time the Patriots found themselves spotted seven points by the experts in Vegas came in Week 1 of the 2016 season, when Tom Brady was forced to sit out because of the DeflateGate mess. With Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm, the Patriots were 8.5-point underdogs in their visit to the Arizona Cardinals, which they promptly won 23-21.
Take that, Vegas.
The other time New England's opponent was favored by a touchdown came at the end of the 2009 season when the Patriots visited the Houston Texans. The Patriots were already locked into wild-card weekend and sat most of their starters. Houston won 34-27, and the game is best known for Wes Welker tearing his ACL.
Now we await to see how the Cam Newton-led Patriots will fare against Patrick Mahomes and the high-powered Chiefs. New England's only loss on the season came in Week 2 when they fell to the Seahawks, 35-30, in Seattle. The Patriots were four-point underdogs for that tilt. The Patriots have been seven-point favorites in both of their home games this season and covered those spreads in wins over the Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders.
Tune in to Patriots-Chiefs on WBZ-TV -- the home of the New England Patriots! Pregame coverage kicks off Sunday at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Chiefs kick off at 4:25 p.m., and after the game switch over to TV38 for full postgame reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!
