Patriots-Chiefs Week 15 news, notes, and fun facts

FOXBORO -- The Patriots and the Chiefs were supposed to play on Monday night this week, but the matchup (mostly thanks to the Patriots) wasn't considered good enough for the NFL's marquee game. Now that it's a Sunday afternoon game, will it be good enough to get Taylor Swift to Gillette Stadium?

You may have heard this by now, but Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is the lucky one that gets to call Swift his girlfriend. She has found a new love of professional football amid her new love for Kelce, and isn't just some girl at home for the two-time Super Bowl champ. Swift has occasionally shown up to Chiefs games, though you'd never know since they rarely show her on TV.

Sarcasm aside, Swift has fearlessly been to six Chiefs games since her romance with Kelce began. The Chiefs got a bit of a boost with the global superstar in attendance, winning each of the first four games that she attended. But she was there in each of the last two weeks, and the Chiefs lost both of them. And considering the ending of last Sunday's loss to the Bills has the Chiefs seeing red at the moment, maybe it's better that Taylor goes and hangs out somewhere else on Sunday.

But Gillette Stadium is a pretty special place to her. It was the first NFL stadium that she played at, and she had three sellout shows there over the summer, including a rain-soaked Saturday night performance where Swift continued her usual 12-hour performance.

Will she be there on Sunday? As of right now we don't know. So, maybe?

Thus concludes the Taylor Swift portion of this post. Now let's get into the nitty gritty of Sunday's (not Monday's) Patriots-Chiefs matchup.

Patriots vs. Chiefs

-Sunday afternoon will be the 40th overall matchup between the two teams, with Kansas City holding a 20-16-3 edge in the series.

-The Patriots and the Chiefs played twice a year from 1960-1970 as two of the original AFL teams. Patriots home games were played at Boston University and Fenway Park while games the Chiefs hosted were at the Cotton Bowl (they were a Dallas team from 1960-62) and Municipal Stadium. 

-Sunday's game will be the first time the Patriots and the Chiefs square off since the 2020 season. That last matchup was also moved from its regularly scheduled slot, but it went from being a Sunday game to a Monday night game because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the New England locker room. The Chiefs won, 26-10, at Arrowhead Stadium.

-Arrowhead has not been very friendly to the Patriots, who are 1-6 in the Chiefs' home stadium. Overall, the Patriots are 2-10-1 in their visits to Kansas City.

-So it's a good thing this game is in New England. The Patriots tout an 11-8-2 record against the Chiefs at home, including 4-2 at Gillette Stadium.

-The Chiefs' offense isn't as powerful as it once was, but Mahomes and company are still racking up 361.3 yards per game, which is good for the seventh-most in the NFL. Most of that comes in the air, with KC averaging 253.5 passing yards per game (ranking sixth) while putting up 22.5 points per game (11th). 

The Patriots' offense remains the worst unit at scoring points this year, averaging just 13.0 points per game.

-This weekend's battle will actually feature two of the NFL's better defenses this season. The Chiefs rank sixth in total defense, allowing an average of 299.9 yards per game, while the Pats sit at eighth at 306.9 yards per game. The Chiefs are allowing just 17.5 points per contest, which is the third-lowest in the NFL, while the Patriots are tied for 14th in the league at 20.9 points allowed per game.

-The Kansas City defense is really good at getting to the opposing quarterback, racking up 42 sacks on the season. That's tied for the third-most this season. That doesn't bode well for the New England offensive front, which has allowed 32 sacks.

-Neither team is very good at forcing turnovers. The Patriots have forced just 13 (seven interceptions, five fumble recoveries) while the Chiefs have 15 (seven picks, eight fumble recoveries). None of Kansas City's seven interceptions have come on the road this season.

The Chiefs are a minus-7 in turnover differential (tied for 27th in the NFL) while the Patriots are minus-9 (30th).

Patriots-Chiefs Connections

-It will be another "revenge" game for JuJu Smith-Schuster, as he'll take on a former team of his for a second straight week. He put up some solid numbers for the Chiefs last seson despite playing in just nine games, and his only year in KC culminated in a Super Bowl win for the veteran receiver. 

Last week against the Steelers -- whom Smith-Schuster spent his first five NFL seasons with -- JuJu had four receptions for a season-high 90 yards.

-Patriots fans will get to see guard Joe Thuney again, as he's in his third season with the Chiefs after spending his first five in New England. A two-time Super Bowl champ with the Pats, Thuney has yet to play against his former team since signing a five-year, $80 million deal with Kansas City in 2021.

-Current Chiefs linebackers coach Brendon Daly was on the Patriots' coaching staff from 2014-18, first as a defensive assistant (2014) and then as a defensive line coach (2015-18). He won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, and has won two more since joining the Chiefs in 2019.

Everything else to know about Sunday's Patriots-Chiefs showdown

-Bill Belichick currently ranks third on the NFL's all-time wins list with 301 regular season victories. Andy Reid is next in line with 255 wins. This weekend will be the first matchup between two head coaches in the top five since Week 4 of the 1990 season, when Don Shula's Dolphins took on Chuck Knoll's Steelers.

-The Patriots have allowed 20 or fewer points in five straight games. The team record is 11 straight games, which set with the final three games of the 2018 season through the first eight games of the 2019 season.

-Patrick Mahomes is 2-1 against the Patriots in the regular season. He's completed 65 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and three interceptions in those games, including a four-touchdown performance in a loss at Gillette in 2018. He is 0-1 against the Pats in the playoffs. 

-Kelce is 4-1 against the Pats in the regular season, but has been held to just one receiving touchdown in those contests. He also has a rushing score to go with 28 receptions on 41 targets, and a fumble lost against New England.

-If Demario Douglas can return from his concussion this weekend (he was back at practice on Wednesday) , he'll have a shot at a Patriots rookie record. He sits just seven receptions behind Deion Branch's record for most catches by a rookie receiver under Belichick (43), which Branch set during the 2002 season.

Get ready for Patriots-Chiefs Friday night with Patriots All Access on WBZ-TV at 7 p.m. Coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, and after the game switch over to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!