Rating the rivals, 2019 edition: Which AFC team is Patriots’ primary counterpoint?

Inspired by a BSJ commenter who wondered about the state of the Patriots’ rivalries Wednesday, we took our semi-regular look at which AFC teams can boast of being a true counterpoint to New England.


Chiefs: This one checks most of the boxes. Kansas City has been pretty competitive over the last few years, and have won two of the last five meetings — in those three losses, the Chiefs have lost by a total of 16 points. Kansas City isn’t cowed by the prospect of playing at Gillette, as the Chiefs won in 2017 and pushed the Patriots to the brink in their regular-season showdown last year. The last two meetings were absolutely epic duels between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, and this year’s contest should be more of the same. There's some history there with Bernard Pollard. One thing that could bring a little spice to things this year is some pre-game trash talk from someone on the Kansas City roster, but you can’t have everything. Even so, this is our top pick at this point.