Week 9 Monday Night Football: Patriots rooting guide, game tips, open thread

Week 9 of the NFL season concludes in Arrowhead, hosting the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Check out tonight's Pats Pulpit picks below and visit the comments section to further discuss Friday night's action.

Guide to Rooting the Patriots

Come on, Bucs! With an opposing conference game, New England will side with the NFC. | 8:20 ET, NBC

Patriots picks

Oliver Thomas: The Chiefs have yet to reach the 28-point mark this season. Patrick Mahomes also has more interceptions than touchdowns. However, it worked out ugly for the undefeated, back-to-back defending Super Bowl champions. And a Buccaneers team that went 1-3 in October is heading deeper into the fall without Chris Godwin and Mike Evans available to replace Baker Mayfield. | Chiefs 27, Buccaneers 17

Brian Hines: It's been a great start to the season for Baker Mayfield, but the challenge of playing with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin only gets more difficult against Kansas City's defense. Even though things have been a bit difficult for Patrick Mahomes this season, we haven't been against him – especially not at home. | Chiefs 23, Buccaneers 17

Bernd Buchmasser: The Chiefs enter Monday with a perfect 7-0 record, but have been pretty vulnerable this year. Will the Buccaneers team be able to take advantage of these problems and seriously challenge the two-time reigning world champions? Given the recent injury absences, this seems unlikely. | Chiefs 31, Buccaneers 14

If you want to choose the game yourself, visit FanDuel.