Chiefs vs. Patriots 2017: Start time, TV schedule for NFL season opener

The New England Patriots’ 2017 season — and the NFL season as a whole — begins Thursday night at Gillette Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Patriots and Chiefs will meet at at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC (stream it on NBCSports.com).

Unlike last year’s season-opener for the Pats, Tom Brady will be back home in the pocket. Everything isn’t back to normal for the reigning Super Bowl champs, though, with the team having to put wideout Julian Edelman on IR for the season. The team does see the return of Gronk though in Week 1, so Edelman’s absence won’t be felt quite as much.

The last time these two teams met was in the AFC Championship last season, and it seems appropriate that the first game back is a chance for Kansas City to earn back a bit of their pride. The Chiefs actually hold the all-time lead between the two, claiming 17-13-1 record in the series, and they’re banking on rookie rusher Kareem Hunt to fill in for Jamaal Charles this season. Hunt will face one of his toughest tests this year during his regular season NFL debut.

The NFL started doing this season opener where the defending champion hosts the first game on Thursday night in 2004. Since then, the home team has won every time except once: the Cowboys beat the Giants in 2012.

The Chiefs listed TE Travis Kelce as a limited participant in practice with a calf injury. This is a little concerning because I didn’t know about a calf injury but he’s also only limited and the Chiefs aren’t sounding their usual warning signs that something serious could be wrong.

Tom Brady is 50-1 against AFC opponents on his home turf, and it’ll take a lot from the Chiefs to even begin making a dent in that stat. We agree: Eight of our nine “experts” — including the OddsShark computer — like the Patriots to win this game. Former NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz took the Chiefs.