Belichick: Pats-Chiefs 'Not Quite A Division Game, But It's Pretty Close'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots picked up their second win of the season on Sunday, but a day later, it's already on to Kansas City.
With the Patriots facing an extremely tough challenge in heading to Missouri to take on the defending Super Bowl champs next week, the team is already full speed ahead on preparing for Sunday's game. Making that planning slightly more difficult is the fact that the Chiefs haven't played their Week 3 game yet.
The Chiefs will be in Baltimore for Monday Night Football, thus delaying some of the film study that Bill Belichick and his staff would normally be doing on Monday to fine-tune the game plan for the upcoming game.
Fortunately, Belichick said, the regular meetings between the Patriots and Chiefs make him feel a bit more comfortable in terms of what to generally expect come Sunday.
"In terms of familiarity with the teams, I think this is one of these games where it's not quite a division game, but it's pretty close," Belichick said.
Sunday will mark the seventh time the Patriots and Chiefs have played since 2014, a stretch that includes four regular season games and two playoff games thus far. The teams, fittingly, are 3-3 in those six contests, with the Patriots' 2018 AFC Championship Game overtime victory in Kansas City the most prominent of the bunch.
Belichick acknowledged that both his staff and Andy Reid's staff will certainly throw in some wrinkles, but generally speaking, both teams already know what they'll be dealing with this weekend.
"I think this is a game where both teams know each other pretty well. We've played each other multiple times here in the past few years, and even though every game is different and there are different players, there are still a lot of the same players, a lot of the same coaches and the same schemes that will continue to present themselves. How much they show up or don't show up, that's another thing. Both teams have an element of game-planning to them, so we'll see how much things actually match up the way they have in the past."
While Belichick is eager to break down the Chiefs' Week 3 film, he won't be lounging in a recliner with a bowl of popcorn like the rest of us watching the game on cable on Monday evening.
"Well the film is a lot more helpful for us, but yeah I mean, I'm sure I'll have the game on," Belichick said of the Chiefs-Ravens game, which is certainly the highest profile game to be played in 2020 thus far. "And, you know, probably try to work on some other things while that's happening. But I'll pay attention to it, see how things unfold, just to get a little jump on things in the morning. But it certainly shortens the preparation."
