Historically, there's no worse place to make your first NFL career start than against Bill Belichick's defense at Gillette Stadium in New England. However, to paraphrase Rick Pitino, Rodney Harrison isn't walking through the door, and neither is Richard Seymour or Ty Law.
Kansas City Chiefs QB Tyler Palko is likely to see a myriad of different defensive looks after riding NFL benches for five years, but the Patriots defense has been uncharacteristically weak this season. New England's secondary, ravaged by injuries, has allowed 308.9 yards a game, worst in the NFL.
Palko's inexperience could work to his advantage, as there's almost no game tape for Belichick to study on the QB, who has thrown 13 NFL passes in his career.
At Numberfire, which uses statistical modeling to estimate a player's fantasy performance, Palko is projected to go 17/33 for 161 yards against the Patriots.
But with so little information to go on, no one really knows how Palko will do on Monday night or how good he really is. He's widely available in most fantasy leagues, but if he has a big game against New England, that might change.