Patriots vs. Chiefs: How Kansas City Can Ease Tyler Palko into Monday's Game

If Tyler Palko torches the New England Patriots defense in prime time on Monday Night Football, he won't be the first quarterback to ever do it. In fact, he won't even be the first quarterback to do it in prime time in a 12-month span.

Ideally, a coach would like to hide their inexperienced quarterback behind a solid running game. Eventually, though, he's going to have to throw it. When he does, there are some ways to take the pressure off of him.

When Matt Flynn had his coming-out party against the Patriots on Sunday Night Football in 2010, the Packers did an excellent job of easing him into the game. He played with the moxie of a National Championship contender, but a lot of credit goes to Mike McCarthy and Green Bay's coaching staff for giving him a smooth transition.

And they did a lot of it from the shotgun. Seven of 10 plays on the Packers opening drive of that game came from the shotgun. Two of the first three plays out of the shotgun were draw plays, meant to keep the defense off balance and fearful of the run.

That played right into Flynn's hands on one play in particular.

Packers offensive formation: The Packers come out of the shotgun in 11 personnel, with Brandon Jackson lined up on Matt Flynn's right. Andrew Quarless comes in motion into the backfield, and lines up a yard in front of Flynn and Jackson as a fullback.

Patriots defensive formation: The Patriots come out with a three-man line in the sub package. This is an over alignment, with Gary Guyton, Jerod Mayo and Rob Ninkovich all lined up on the offense's right.

Although they line up in the shotgun, the formation gives the illusion of run with Quarless lined up in front of the running back, looking like a fullback. With the early tone set by Green Bay with shotgun draw plays, the defense has every reason to believe this play could follow suit.

That set-up is crucial, because Guyton and Mayo both bite on the play action. This opens up a massive window underneath. 

The lack of pass rush here really helps the Packers, especially since they also eliminate Guytonand Mayo from the play.

My mother could probably have completed this pass. Tim Tebow could probably have completed this pass. There's a solid 10-yard cushion between Donald Driver (the circled legs underneath the NBC logo), but it was a beautiful throw by Flynn regardless. Of course, a beautiful throw is nothing without a nice catch, and who better than Driver?

This is just the kind of easy pitch-and-catch that makes a defense respect the pass, but doesn't put too much pressure on the quarterback.

Slant routes have given New England fits at times, although they defended against them pretty well last week when facing Mark Sanchez and the Jets. The Chiefs have receivers that are just the right combination of physical and athletic that can win inside leverage on a frequent basis on slant routes.

The beautiful thing about slants, though, is that they will typically be at worst an incompletion. The smart thing to do is to throw it a little outside to give your receiver the best chance to make a play on the ball while keeping it as far away from the defender as possible.

Chiefs Offensive Formation

Out of the shotgun, the Chiefs come in with one running back and one tight end, the 11 personnel group. The Chiefs stack their receivers Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston on the offense's right, with Jonathan Baldwin all by himself on the bottom of the screen.

Denver Defensive Formation

The Broncos field a three-man line and show a blitz with several guys close to the line, most of them stacked on the defense's left to compensate for the receivers on that side of the field.

With a six-man rush of guys coming mostly from the offense's left, Matt Cassel knows he has Bowe in man coverage over the middle, and that there's no one in the trajectory as Bowe heads from right to left.

Notice something familiar? There's a window in this defense large enough for Big Foot to have a Neanderthal party.

As was the case for much of Cassel's day against the Broncos, though, the throw was incomplete.

The ball falls harmlessly to the turf. This is is a perfect example of why those throws are very safe, even for a young and inexperienced quarterback to make. The only thing that could go wrong is a very bad read, and the chances of that even happening are very slim.

Palko will have to make it happen at some point, but it's on the running game to make sure that it doesn't all fall on his shoulders.

It was Green Bay's ability to keep New England's defense off balance early that allowed the Packers to keep the ball moving on offense, and ultimately to keep Tom Brady off the field—the Packers won the time of possession battle by nearly a 2:1 ratio. 

That is likely a game plan the Chiefs will employ. Kansas City currently ranks fifth in the league in rush attempts, so they'll run the ball even if it's not working. The constant threat of the run will be what forces New England's linebackers to keep it honest.

And the more (and more effectively) the Chiefs are able to run the ball, the longer Brady watches from the sidelines.

But the bigger question is, can that game plan be effective for the Chiefs? They haven't been a dominant rushing attack this season so far, averaging just 4.2 yards per carry. The most pertinent step in being successful with a young quarterback is to set up the play-action. It's an easy way to take defenders out of the play and win the matchup based on the numbers.

The only way to effectively set up play-action is to run the ball well, regardless of the number of times you run it. 

That being said, the fact that New England will go into this game knowing that the Chiefs will be looking for the run—not just because it's been their trend this season, but also because it's the easiest way to ease a young quarterback into a game—means the Patriots will be focusing on it that much more.  

Which means they could be susceptible to it right out of the gate on Monday night.

If that's the case, the Chiefs could open things up earlier than expected for Palko and Co.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @ErikFrenz.