Nick Wright sees a role reversal coming in the AFC.
It sure looked like the New England Patriots’ conference title streak was going to come to an end last season. New England squandered its chance to earn the top seed in the 2018 AFC playoffs and was forced to go through Kansas City on the path to Super Bowl Sunday. The Patriots, by the skin of their teeth, managed to overcome the Chiefs on the road and kept their momentum rolling through Super Bowl LIII.
Wright doesn’t believe Bill Belichick and Co. will let the No. 1 seed slip through their fingers in the 2019 season. But that doesn’t mean the “First Things First” co-host has the Patriots pegged for a fourth consecutive Super Bowl appearance.
“Patriots, the one seed. I don’t have them going to the Super Bowl,” Wright said Wednesday on FS1’s “The Herd.” “I think the Chiefs get their revenge in Gillette of the game they should have won last year at Arrowhead. But they’ll (Patriots) be the one seed. Soft schedule, they’ll be 6-1 at a minimum through seven weeks. They’ll be the one seed. The Chiefs, the best team in the NFL, they’re the two seed.”
While the Chiefs are a highly formidable opponent, Wright’s prediction probably still should be viewed as lofty. The Patriots, quite frankly, are a different team at home, and they own a 20-3 record in postseason games at Gillette Stadium over the course of the Belichick era. Patrick Mahomes has yet to play a playoff game outside of Kansas City, and a trip to Foxboro in January could be a rude awakening for the young signal-caller.
Wright’s prediction isn’t nearly as out there as Chris Simms’ hypothesis, though. The NBC Sports talking head has the Patriots falling in the divisional round to the … Jacksonville Jaguars?
