Read More: Matt Cassel (QB – KAN), Tyler Palko (QB – KAN), Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots

The Kansas City Chiefs don’t have a final injury report out for Week 11 (they must release a final injury report only on Saturday, two days before their Monday night game with New England), but they have, of course, ruled Matt Cassel out of a rematch with his old team.

Cassel’s right hand injury will give Tyler Palko a chance to make his first NFL start. Cassel’s injury, sustained in a Week 10 loss to the Broncos, could force him to miss more than Monday’s game. Palko completed five of six passes for 47 yards in the loss.

Here’s the rest of the penultimate Chiefs injury report for Week 11:

OUT: Quarterback Matt Cassel (right hand).

LISTED AS LIMITED PARTICIPANTS IN PRACTICE: Cornerback Brandon Carr (ankle), defensive end Glenn Dorsey (knee), cornerback Brandon Flowers (back), safety Jon McGraw (shoulder).

For more on the Chiefs, head to Arrowhead Pride; for more on the Patriots, visit Pats Pulpit.

By Scott Schroeder

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Nov 18, 2011 – The Kansas City Chiefs will play the New England Patriots this weekend in a Monday Night Football battle that probably isn’t all that alluring to the ESPN executives. The Week 11 NFL picks and predictions don’t exactly allude to the game being worthy of watching.

Andrew Sharp, SB Nation’s resident expert, chose the Patriots to cover the 16-point spread before finding a topic equally-important to the game worth writing about:

Also, since there’s nothing to say about Monday Night Football or the Kansas City Chiefs, here are few photos of Dwayne Bowe that I found on Getty Images this week. It’s all from the same photo shoot with Jamie Squire, and it’s all f***ing fantastic. Here he is jumping over the city.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King also took a fun look at the game after predicting the Patriots would win a 31-10 snoozer.

The story is so neat: Tyler Palko, cut in the NFL (Arizona) and United Football League (California Redwoods) and unable to crack the Montreal Alouettes lineup in 2009, makes his first NFL start in Foxboro. On Monday night, Palko should find out that Bill Belichick — and more importantly, rejuvenated pass-rusher Andre Carter — are not actors in a Disney movie.

In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, the experts at CBS Sports, ESPN and Yahoo! Sports all picked the Patriots to win the Monday night primetime game as well.

To learn more about this game, head over to Chiefs blog Arrowhead Pride and Patriots blog Pats Pulpit. And make sure to stop by SB Nation NFL for all your Week 11 coverage.

Read More: Andre Carter (DE – NEP), Dwayne Bowe (WR – KAN), Tyler Palko (QB – KAN), Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Chiefs will lean on a journeyman quarterback, a running back who’s spent most of his career on special teams and a tight end who has a hard time catching when the play at New England on Monday night.

Not exactly what general manager Scott Pioli had in mind when he put this team together.

The Chiefs have been decimated by injuries this season, particularly on offence, where quarterback Matt Cassel, running back Jamaal Charles and tight end Tony Moeaki have gone down with what are likely to be season-ending injuries.

Tyler Palko will be under centre against the Patriots, making his first career start. He’ll hand off to Jackie Battle, a special teams standout thrust into the role of the feature back. And if the Chiefs’ struggling offensive line gives Palko enough time to throw, his best option off the line of scrimmage is Leonard Pope, who has all of 16 catches for 115 yards this season.

No wonder the Kansas City offence is among the worst in the NFL.

Coach Todd Haley maintains confidence that this hodgepodge collection of backups can keep the defending AFC West champions in contention. The Chiefs (4-5) are in a three-way tie behind the Oakland Raiders (5-4) in a division lacking any true favourite.

“Obviously last week’s result was disappointing,” Haley said of a 17-10 home loss to Denver. “We’ve learned from it and we’re continuing to work hard to be a better team, to play better, to be more consistent, and that has to start this Monday against New England.”

Much of the spotlight will be on Palko, who has thrown 13 passes in his NFL career. But he’s only the trigger-man for an offence that hasn’t done much.

Kansas City ranks 27th in the league in total offence, and Cassel had the passing offence ranked 28th before he went down with an injury to his throwing hand against the Broncos. Cassel had surgery late Monday and is likely out for the season.

The Chiefs’ rushing offence, the league’s best a year ago, has struggled without the game-breaking Charles in the backfield. Kansas City has three rushing touchdowns, better only than the Browns.

The Chiefs have given up 22 sacks, nine of them coming the past two weeks — by comparison, Buffalo has allowed 10 sacks the entire season. Wide receiver Jon Baldwin, the team’s first-round draft pick, has eight catches for 123 yards in his injury-shortened debut — by comparison, fifth-round draft pick Denarius Moore of Oakland has 23 catches for 396 yards.

The result is an offence that has scored just 141 points, 27th among the 32 NFL teams.

“The last time we played the Kansas City Chiefs was in 2008, opening day, and where that team was then to where it is now, they’re a much, much better football team,” New England coach Bill Belichik said. “They’re sound, they’re tough, they have a lot of explosive players on both sides of the ball, and they have a lot of schemes that are hard to prepare for.”

The complexity of those schemes may be dialed back a bit without Cassel at quarterback.

Haley said he is confident that Palko will be ready to go, especially given an extra day of preparation. Like Cassel, Palko is a drop-back passer who does many of the same things, the most significant difference being that he’s left handed.

“Some things are going to change,” Haley said, when asked how the game plan might be altered. “I don’t think we can dramatically make a whole bunch of adjustments, other than little tweaks here and there.”

That’s not to say wholesale changes would be a bad idea.

The Chiefs only managed a field goal against the then-winless Dolphins two weeks ago, a home loss that came on the heels of a confidence-boosting Monday night win over San Diego. Then came last weekend’s humbling loss to Denver, one in which the Chiefs gained 258 yards of total offence.

If it wasn’t for Palko leading the 2-minute offence to a field goal in the closing seconds, that total would have been even more meagre.

Now, the Chiefs will go against a defence that is ranked last in the league against the pass but still managed to shut down the Jets on Sunday.

“The guys on the team are expecting me to execute and go out and do my job,” Palko said, “and have nothing change from when Matt’s gone down and me stepping in

“Coach Belichick, he’s proven that he’s a defensive genius and I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Palko added. “I’m sure he’s not feeling sorry for himself because he’s got some guys out. He’s got an untested quarterback and I’m sure he’s not going to take it easy on me.”

The Chiefs have been decimated by injuries this season, particularly on offense, where quarterback Matt Cassel, running back Jamaal Charles and tight end Tony Moeaki have gone down with what are likely to be season-ending injuries.

Tyler Palko will be under center against the Patriots, making his first career start. He’ll hand off to Jackie Battle, a special teams standout thrust into the role of the feature back. And if the Chiefs’ struggling offensive line gives Palko enough time to throw, his best option off the line of scrimmage is Leonard Pope, who has all of 16 catches for 115 yards this season.

No wonder the Kansas City offense is among the worst in the NFL.

Coach Todd Haley maintains confidence that this hodgepodge collection of backups can keep the defending AFC West champions in contention. The Chiefs (4-5) are in a three-way tie behind the Oakland Raiders (5-4) in a division lacking any true favorite.

“Obviously last week’s result was disappointing,” Haley said of a 17-10 home loss to Denver. “We’ve learned from it and we’re continuing to work hard to be a better team, to play better, to be more consistent, and that has to start this Monday against New England.”

Much of the spotlight will be on Palko, who has thrown 13 passes in his NFL career. But he’s only the trigger-man for an offense that hasn’t done much.

Kansas City ranks 27th in the league in total offense, and Cassel had the passing offense ranked 28th before he went down with an injury to his throwing hand against the Broncos. Cassel had surgery late Monday and is likely out for the season.

The Chiefs’ rushing offense, the league’s best a year ago, has struggled without the game-breaking Charles in the backfield. Kansas City has three rushing touchdowns, better only than the Browns.

The Chiefs have given up 22 sacks, nine of them coming the past two weeks — by comparison, Buffalo has allowed 10 sacks the entire season. Wide receiver Jon Baldwin, the team’s first-round draft pick, has eight catches for 123 yards in his injury-shortened debut — by comparison, fifth-round draft pick Denarius Moore of Oakland has 23 catches for 396 yards.

The result is an offense that has scored just 141 points, 27th among the 32 NFL teams.

“The last time we played the Kansas City Chiefs was in 2008, opening day, and where that team was then to where it is now, they’re a much, much better football team,” New England coach Bill Belichik said. “They’re sound, they’re tough, they have a lot of explosive players on both sides of the ball, and they have a lot of schemes that are hard to prepare for.”

The complexity of those schemes may be dialed back a bit without Cassel at quarterback.

Haley said he is confident that Palko will be ready to go, especially given an extra day of preparation. Like Cassel, Palko is a drop-back passer who does many of the same things, the most significant difference being that he’s left handed.

“Some things are going to change,” Haley said, when asked how the game plan might be altered. “I don’t think we can dramatically make a whole bunch of adjustments, other than little tweaks here and there.”

That’s not to say wholesale changes would be a bad idea.

The Chiefs only managed a field goal against the then-winless Dolphins two weeks ago, a home loss that came on the heels of a confidence-boosting Monday night win over San Diego. Then came last weekend’s humbling loss to Denver, one in which the Chiefs gained 258 yards of total offense.

If it wasn’t for Palko leading the 2-minute offense to a field goal in the closing seconds, that total would have been even more meager.

Now, the Chiefs will go against a defense that is ranked last in the league against the pass but still managed to shut down the Jets on Sunday.

“The guys on the team are expecting me to execute and go out and do my job,” Palko said, “and have nothing change from when Matt’s gone down and me stepping in

“Coach Belichick, he’s proven that he’s a defensive genius and I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Palko added. “I’m sure he’s not feeling sorry for himself because he’s got some guys out. He’s got an untested quarterback and I’m sure he’s not going to take it easy on me.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—The Kansas City Chiefs will lean on a journeyman
quarterback, a running back who’s spent most of his career on special teams and
a tight end who has a hard time catching when the play at New England on Monday
night.

Not exactly what general manager Scott Pioli had in mind when he put this
team together.

The Chiefs have been decimated by injuries this season, particularly on
offense, where quarterback Matt Cassel(notes), running back Jamaal Charles(notes) and tight
end Tony Moeaki(notes) have gone down with what are likely to be season-ending
injuries.

Tyler Palko(notes) will be under center against the Patriots, making his first
career start. He’ll hand off to Jackie Battle(notes), a special teams standout thrust
into the role of the feature back. And if the Chiefs’ struggling offensive line
gives Palko enough time to throw, his best option off the line of scrimmage is
Leonard Pope(notes), who has all of 16 catches for 115 yards this season.

No wonder the Kansas City offense is among the worst in the NFL.

Coach Todd Haley maintains confidence that this hodgepodge collection of
backups can keep the defending AFC West champions in contention. The Chiefs
(4-5) are in a three-way tie behind the Oakland Raiders (5-4) in a division
lacking any true favorite.

“Obviously last week’s result was disappointing,” Haley said of a 17-10
home loss to Denver. “We’ve learned from it and we’re continuing to work hard
to be a better team, to play better, to be more consistent, and that has to
start this Monday against New England.”

Much of the spotlight will be on Palko, who has thrown 13 passes in his NFL
career. But he’s only the trigger-man for an offense that hasn’t done much.

Kansas City ranks 27th in the league in total offense, and Cassel had the
passing offense ranked 28th before he went down with an injury to his throwing
hand against the Broncos. Cassel had surgery late Monday and is likely out for
the season.

The Chiefs’ rushing offense, the league’s best a year ago, has struggled
without the game-breaking Charles in the backfield. Kansas City has three
rushing touchdowns, better only than the Browns.

The Chiefs have given up 22 sacks, nine of them coming the past two weeks—
by comparison, Buffalo has allowed 10 sacks the entire season. Wide receiver Jon
Baldwin, the team’s first-round draft pick, has eight catches for 123 yards in
his injury-shortened debut—by comparison, fifth-round draft pick Denarius
Moore(notes) of Oakland has 23 catches for 396 yards.

The result is an offense that has scored just 141 points, 27th among the 32
NFL teams.

“The last time we played the Kansas City Chiefs was in 2008, opening day,
and where that team was then to where it is now, they’re a much, much better
football team,” New England coach Bill Belichik said. “They’re sound, they’re
tough, they have a lot of explosive players on both sides of the ball, and they
have a lot of schemes that are hard to prepare for.”

The complexity of those schemes may be dialed back a bit without Cassel at
quarterback.

Haley said he is confident that Palko will be ready to go, especially given
an extra day of preparation. Like Cassel, Palko is a drop-back passer who does
many of the same things, the most significant difference being that he’s left
handed.

“Some things are going to change,” Haley said, when asked how the game
plan might be altered. “I don’t think we can dramatically make a whole bunch of
adjustments, other than little tweaks here and there.”

That’s not to say wholesale changes would be a bad idea.

The Chiefs only managed a field goal against the then-winless Dolphins two
weeks ago, a home loss that came on the heels of a confidence-boosting Monday
night win over San Diego. Then came last weekend’s humbling loss to Denver, one
in which the Chiefs gained 258 yards of total offense.

If it wasn’t for Palko leading the 2-minute offense to a field goal in the
closing seconds, that total would have been even more meager.

Now, the Chiefs will go against a defense that is ranked last in the league
against the pass but still managed to shut down the Jets on Sunday.

“The guys on the team are expecting me to execute and go out and do my
job,” Palko said, “and have nothing change from when Matt’s gone down and me
stepping in

“Coach Belichick, he’s proven that he’s a defensive genius and I wouldn’t
expect anything less,” Palko added. “I’m sure he’s not feeling sorry for
himself because he’s got some guys out. He’s got an untested quarterback and I’m
sure he’s not going to take it easy on me.”