Trying to beat the Patriots in New England is a difficult enough task under normal circumstances, but things are far from normal right now with Todd Haley’s team.  Besides dropping back-to-back games at home to the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos by a combined score of 48-13, they will be without starting QB Matt Cassel.  A hand injury has knocked Cassel out for the season, leaving journeyman Tyler Palko to make his first career start Monday night.

Can the Chiefs show the type of fight that helped them win four straight after losing the first three games of the season?  Or will they roll over and get ready to be a door mat for five teams warming up for a playoff run?

The first-place Patriots will do their best to make sure it’s the latter, though they looked very human in back-to-back losses of their own to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants before rebounding with a 37-16 drubbing of the New York Jets.

Leading the way for New England is, of course, All-Pro Tom Brady but he is working with two of the NFL’s top 10 receivers, including the league leader in Wes Welker.  Brady will hope for a better outcome than the last time these two teams met.  That was back in 2008 when the QB was lost for the season with a knee injury after a low hit from safety Jarrad Page.

As the Chiefs try to shock the Patriots and their potent offense, here are three players from each team to keep your eyes on.

Chiefs

Offense: Tyler Palko

Nothing like making your NFL debut as a starting quarterback on the road in front of a national TV audience against a team that just two weeks ago ended a 20-game winning streak at home.

The thing is, the Patriots do have a weakness and it’s their league-worst passing defense.  So if the Chiefs are going to pull off the upset, they’ll have to do it in the air and that means the pressure sits squarely on the shoulders of Kansas City’s lefty QB.

If Palko can stand tall and run his version of Air-Haley, the Chiefs have a shot.  If he wilts under the bright lights of Monday Night Football, then it will be another long day for Kansas City.

Defense: Tamba Hali

Unlike last week when the Denver Broncos didn’t throw the ball enough to give Hali a shot to impact the game, there should be plenty of chances Monday night.  The Patriots have yet to attempt less than 30 passes this season.  That doesn’t mean the Chiefs will be able to bring down Brady, but Hali will be the key to trying to somewhat contain the league’s best passing attack.

Though he is used to it at his point, Hali will have to be a one-man pass rush.  With so many explosive options in the air, the Chiefs won’t be able to afford sending much help from the the linebackers or secondary.

The linebacker is due for a big game after hitting quite the dry spell.  Hali averaged a sack per game over the Chiefs first four weeks of the season, but has only had two in the last five games including shutouts against the Dolphins and Broncos.

Special Teams: Javier Arenas

After missing his first ever game against the Miami Dolphins with a bum ankle, Arenas returned last week and jumped right back into his duty as primary kick returner.  He looked a little tentative on the ankle, but still managed to turn in a decent 28 yard kick return.

One key for the Chiefs to win in New England will be to turn in a big play on special teams.  No matter if it’s Arenas or fellow-returner Dexter McCluster, the unit can take a lot of pressure off the Chiefs offense by putting points on the board.

Patriots

Offense: Wes Welker

It’s pick your poison with this ridiculous offense.

The Chiefs have been killed by tight ends, so you could easily say that trying to keep Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez under wraps needs to be the main priority.  But in there case you can hope Derrick Johnson will be able to match up with one of the tight ends and a combination of players can try to slow down the other, but who stops Welker?

Some teams have attempted to shadow the receiver with their best cornerback, but the Chiefs don’t like to move Brandon Flowers from his side.  Even if Romeo Crennel is willing to move the him or Brandon Carr around the field, will either be healthy enough to play?  They were both listed as “questionable” on the Chiefs final injury report.

Bottom line is it will be a tall task for Kansas City to slow down Welker and the rest of the Patriots air attack.

Defense: Andre Carter

The Chiefs defense is last in the league at taking down the QB, but the Patriots have had their own pass rush issues and currently rank 20th.  However, Carter has played like a mad man lately, racking up eight sacks in the Patriots last four games, including 4.5 takedowns of Jets QB Mark Sanchez last week.

Considering how bad the Kansas City offensive line has been lately, it’s not out of the question that Carter will post another four sack day.

Special Teams: Zoltan Mesko

If the Chiefs are going to turn in a big punt return, they’ll have to do it against a guy that rarely gives returners any room to work.  In nine games, Mesko has had 16 of his 31 punts returned for a measly 5.9 yards average.

The longest return Mesko has given up all season was an 18 yarder by the Raiders Denarius Moore seven weeks ago.

What would be the situation around the Chiefs right now if they were 2-3, instead of 0-5?  Even without a victory on the season, and the apparent demotion of an assistant coach in the past week, there is not the feeling of desperation and negativity hanging over the team or the locker room.  Nobody is happy, but they continue to put their head down, handle the work they’ve been given and hope to earn their first victory this Sunday when they play the Washington Redskins.

Now, the Skins are 2-3 and the kettle is boiling around the franchise.  If you thought the Chiefs might be catching Washington at the right time, think again based on the comments of QB Jason Campbell.

“It’s not just another game,” Campbell told the media this week.  “It’s a big game for us, for a lot of ways and a lot of reasons.  We’re in a tough division.  You can’t afford to fall too behind in your division.  And for the morale of our team, to get confidence going back in the right direction, you got to do everything you can to get the win.”

Campbell might be saying the right things, but there’s no way all of the distractions won’t impact the Redskins on Sunday.  It’s hard enough to deal with coaching questions week in and week out, but add an injury to their starting left tackle and their most prominent former players ripping them and it’s bound to affect the team when they hit the field.

It’s Friday and that means the “expert” predictions have started to roll in for Sunday’s Chiefs-Redskins matchup.

WASHINGTON 17, Kansas City 16 (+6½): The only two wins by the Redskins were over winless St. Louis and Tampa Bay by a total of 5 points.  Washington is 1-7 ATS in its past 8 home games.  The Chiefs figure to win a game sooner or later.

I haven’t decided one way or another yet, but this is the most confident I’ve been about the Chiefs at this point in a week since the beginning of last season.  The Redskins are thisclose to self destructing and there were a lot of positives to take out of the Chiefs loss to the Cowboys.

Even if you don’t feel confident that the Chiefs will win outright, 6.5 points is a lot of points get get from a scuffling team.

If the Jim Zorn plans on keeping the Chiefs winless, he is going to lean heavily on his defense.

The Redskins were opportunistic on defense the last two games.  They pressured quarterbacks consistently, forced and recovered fumbles and intercepted passes.  Producing turnovers is the sign the Redskins’ defense is back on track after being momentarily derailed, secondary coach Jerry Gray said.

“You’re getting turnovers, you’re getting deep into other people’s territory, you’re getting sacks on a consistent basis,” Gray said.  “And then the coverage and the pressure is going hand-in-hand.  You’re not saying, ‘Well, we were almost there.’  Now, we’re actually getting there, and we’ve got good coverage.  Those are things that you see.  When you’re actually on the same page, you see coverage and pressure there at the same time.”

With both offensive lines dealing with injuries, we could end up seeing a lot of sacks and turnovers this weekend.  Albert Haynesworth, Andre Carter and Brian Orapko will be the players to watch for Sunday as the Washington defense attempts to dictate the tempo.