As expected, the Patriots were able to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, despite a really slow start on offense. The final score was 34-3, and this was a good win for the Pats. They will look to continue this type of success against under-performing teams for the rest of the regular season, as they have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL. And the quarterback competition doesn't really get too challenging either, as the Patriots still have to play teams like the Indianapolis Colts, led by quarterback Curtis Painter, who is in place of injured superstar Peyton Manning. This will give the defense a chance to get their confidence up, and to me its really a win-win situation, as the Patriots are likely to get the AFC's top playoff seed, which would give them home-field advantage until the Superbowl if they can get that far. People who say that bad quarterback competition will make the defense worse might be forgetting that this defense goes against Tom Brady in practice, who is no mediocre passer. In my opinion, they will not only get their confidence up against poor competition, but this will help them win as many games as possible, which in turn will help them in the playoffs since they will be playing at Gillette Stadium, which is their comfort zone. And take last season for an example, the Pats had one of the tougher schedules in the league, but they ended up losing in the first round against Mark Sanchez and the Jets. In this way, a harder regular season schedule doesn't mean anything in the playoffs, because well, the playoffs are the playoffs, not the regular season.

Now, its time to look into this win against the Chiefs. There were a lot of good things I saw and I expected that this would happen. However, the Pats will have to figure out how to get the offense going in the early part of the game. They were forced to punt the ball away way too many times early in this one, and they can't afford to do this against tougher teams with better offenses. Despite the slow start, the offense was able to redeem itself in the second half. Tom Brady was good with over 200 yards passing, 2 touchdowns, and 0 turnovers. Both of his touchdowns went to Rob Gronkowski, who once again was able to free himself from loose coverage down the field. Green-Ellis pitched in well as he ran for 81 yards on 20 carries. The running game was key in the 4th quarter as the Patriots offense was able to run out the clock by maintaining possession of the ball. New running back Vereen also looked good as he ran for a touchdown. Most of these things were expected for the offense as they were playing against an average defense without key players like safety Eric Berry. It's a good thing that the Patriots didn't underestimate them, as they will have to continue to stay motivated against some bad teams down the stretch of this regular season.

The Patriots special teams had one of their best games of the season. Versatile players like Julian Edelman stepped up in a big way. Edelman not only returned a punt for a touchdown, but he made some key tackles for the kicking teams. They will need his contribution against explosive returners like Desean Jackson of the Eagles. The defense also played well, and once again, the pass rush provided a chain reaction. Since the defense was able to get to Tyler Palko on numerous plays, he was rushed to make some poor decisions. Kyle Arrington had two interceptions, and he leads the league with seven on the season. Giving up only 3 points against any team is always a good sign. And the Patriots' performance on Monday night is another sign of good things to come.