Pats heavy favorites week one

<p> <strong><font size="2"><a class="innerTextLinks" target="" href="http://www.sbrforum.com/statfeed/statfeed.aspx?page=nfl/nflteam&amp;teamid=KANSAS+CITY&amp;season=2006">Kansas City </a><a class="innerTextLinks" target="" href="http://www.sbrforum.com/statfeed/statfeed.aspx?page=nfl/nflteam&amp;teamid=KANSAS+CITY&amp;season=2006">Chiefs</a> at New England Patriots</font> (-15&frac12;)</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.sbrforum.com/statfeed/statfeed.aspx?page=NFL/expanded&amp;date=09/07/2008&amp;rotnum=458"><br /> </a>The Patriots may have been 18-0 heading into the Super Bowl, but they peaked in the middle of the season. New England started 8-0 ATS, four times covering spreads of more than two touchdowns. That&rsquo;s just not normal. As it turned out, the Pats went 2-6 ATS in the second half and dropped the cash in all three of their playoff games. </p>
<p> That slowdown hasn&rsquo;t stopped people from pounding New England this year. The Patriots opened as 14.5-point favorites versus the Chiefs and went as high as 16 points before falling back slightly. How much chalk is reasonable for the 2008 Patriots model? It&rsquo;s nearly identical to last year&rsquo;s, so double-digits at home against a team that went 4-12 (7-8-1 ATS) in 2007 is understandable. </p>
<p> But let&rsquo;s look again at the Chiefs. Just about everything that could go wrong for Kansas City, did. RB Larry Johnson (4.3 yards per carry in 2007) was a training camp holdout, got off to a slow start, and missed the second half of the season with a foot injury. Blue-chip QB prospect Brodie Croyle couldn&rsquo;t beat Damon Huard for the starting job, then neither man played well behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league. That line is new and improved for 2008, giving Croyle and the Chiefs a chance to stay upright this season. </p>