The Chiefs are fully preparing to face quarterback Tom Brady at New England on Sunday. Brady has been hampered by a foot injury but is expected to play. That is certainly the way the Chiefs are thinking.

Logically, it still shapes up as the biggest mismatch of the NFL’s opening weekend.

“It’s probably the best way for us to start,” head coach Herm Edwards insisted Monday. “Because you get a barometer of where you’re at right now. There’s no guessing. When the game’s over with, you say, ‘OK, here’s where we’re at.”’

Oddsmakers say this one figures to be a runaway for a Patriots team seeing its first regular-season action since the Super Bowl loss to the Giants ruined their historic perfect season.

As of Monday, the Patriots were favored by 161⁄2 points, making K.C. the only double-digit underdog in the league.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to be two-touchdown or three-touchdown underdogs,” cornerback Patrick Surtain said. “But that’s what you’ve got to love about this game. It’s played on the field.”

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Every week this season, we will examine an AFC West player or coach who is on the hot seat for the upcoming game. Our first visitor to the hot seat will be Kansas City cornerback Brandon Flowers.

The second-round pick from Virginia Tech has been terrific in training camp and in the preseason. The Chiefs, who have 15 rookies on their 53 man roster, are going with younger players. However, Flowers is the real deal and is one of the team's brightest, young players.

That's why he's expected to start as a rookie. The Chiefs are confident Flowers will do well, because of what he has shown in the preseason and in camp. He is a very athletic, active, confident cornerback. The game is not too fast for him.

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Two days after cutting their roster to 53 players, the Chiefs begin a new phase today in their rebuilding effort: Week one of the regular season. That phase might begin with one of the most important pieces intact.

Rookie left tackle Branden Albert is healthy enough at least to return to practice this week. After missing more than four weeks because of a sprained foot, Albert might even play Sunday when the Chiefs begin the regular season at New England.

“Not ruling him out at all,” Herm Edwards said. “Not one bit.”

The Chiefs are being careful with Albert and the injury he suffered July 31. It forced the 6-foot-5, 316-pounder to miss all but five days of the preseason, and he initially needed crutches and a walking boot to get around. Last week, he did light calisthenics and is expected to return full-speed when the Chiefs resume practice Wednesday.

Albert was in uniform during the Chiefs’ preseason finale, a 21-17 win this past Thursday against St. Louis. But Albert didn’t play, and Edwards said that never was the plan. It was to ease Albert’s mind and body into game mode, which for Albert included warm-ups and adjusting to the Chiefs’ pregame routine.

Edwards said veteran guard Brian Waters asked the coach Thursday why Albert was in uniform but wouldn’t play. Waters was Albert’s training-camp roommate and has taken an active interest in Albert’s progress. Edwards told Waters it wouldn’t have been fair to plug Albert into the starting lineup against the Patriots if he’d never even warmed up with his teammates.

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Until a certain Green Bay Packers quarterback was traded to the Jets earlier this month, the blockbuster trade of the NFL offseason came April 22, when the Kansas City Chiefs shipped right defensive end Jared Allen to the Vikings.

Nearly five months later, the Chiefs are a week from their season opener against a rusty Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. A dominant pass rush off Brady's blind side sure would come in handy right about now, don't ya think?

But Allen and last year's NFL-high 15 1/2 sacks are gone. Concerned about Allen's off-the-field behavior and unwilling to pay him the going rate for a premier pass-rushing right end, the Chiefs traded him for the Vikings' first-round draft pick, two third-round picks and an exchange of sixth-round picks.

The Vikings reached into owner Zygi Wilf's pockets, gave Allen $31,000,069 (69 is his jersey number) in guarantees and everyone is smiling as Allen prepares to hunt down Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in his first NFL start a week from Monday.

What's happening on the flip side of that trade?

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General manager Carl Peterson, who served as personnel head for the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in his career, said he could not recall a draft with the Chiefs or the Eagles when every member of the class survived the final cuts. "There was a time way back when we used to draft 12 players and you felt good if six of them made it," Peterson said. "But it's a combination of we've really made a concerted effort to get younger and we've let a lot of older players go already and we needed to refill those spots. We are excited about a lot of our draft choices."

Rookie Connor Barth, who battled all year to be Kansas City's new place kicker, was one of 21 players released on Saturday.

There were no big names cut by the Chiefs, who had already cleansed their roster of many under-performing veterans following a 4-12 year. Barth's release makes Nick Novak the winner in the months-long competition which came down to the last week.
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