In a curious scheduling quirk, Monday night’s game against the Chiefs at Gillette Stadium will mark just the second time in six years (and the first time since the season opener in 2008) that the Patriots will face Kansas City. By way of comparison, the Patriots have faced fellow AFC West team San Diego three times in that span and six times in the last six years.

“It’s a team we don’t know very well,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said when asked about the Chiefs on his Tuesday conference call. “So we’re really going to have to do a good job with our preparation in making sure that we find out a lot about these guys in a hurry.”

That being said, the Patriots do have some institutional knowledge of the Kansas City organization. Belichick acknowledged the deep roots between the two franchises. Scott Pioli (GM) and Romeo Crennel (defensive coordinator) were both close with Belichick in New England, while former Patriots Anthony Pleasant (defensive line coach) and Otis Smith (defensive quality control coach) are part of the Todd Haley’s coaching staff -- the same Todd Haley who was an assistant with Belichick on Bill Parcells’ staff in New York in the late 1990s.

“Todd Haley, I coached with him at the Jets. And many of the other people that are on that staff I’ve worked with before, whether it be Romeo or Anthony Pleasant on the defensive side of the ball or Otis, obviously, or Maurice (Carthon) and Richie Anderson, Bill Muir on the offensive side of the ball along with Todd Haley (and) Scott,” said Belichick.

“It’s a mixture of all those things. There’s certainly some similarities to some of the things that were at the Jets in the ‘97, ‘98, ‘99 years when many of us were together. There’s some things that maybe you can relate to the Patriots. Romeo and I go way back to the Giants.

“There’s a lot of intertwining there and certainly Scott as the top guy in the organization has implemented his philosophy. ... So sure, you see all that in the team.”

But in that getting-to-know-you spirit, one anonymous AFC scout opened up his notebook to us and revealed a five-point plan of attack to defeat the Chiefs. (We’ve added some detail under each point.)

1) Their pass rush -- or lack thereof. They only have one pass rusher in Tamba Hali, so you can set your protection to one element of danger on the defense.

Hali is a 6-foot-3, 275-pound linebacker who has become one of the best pass rushers in the league. According to Pro Football Focus, he leads the Chiefs in sacks with six (tied for fourth in the league), quarterback pressures with 17 (ninth in the league) and quarterback hits with seven (fifth in the league). Look for the Chiefs to line him up on Tom Brady’s blind side, which means he’ll be going head-to-head with left tackle Matt Light. Because he’s the only real pass-rush threat, expect Light to receiver help from Rob Gronkowski, and whatever running back is in the game at the time in the form of blitz pickup.

2) Rushing attack on offense. It’s hard to mask the loss of Jamaal Charles in terms of explosive play production.

Charles went down early in the season with a torn ACL, leaving the Chiefs without a dependable threat in the running game. Jackie Battle leads a Kansas City ground game that ranks 10th in the league, carrying 87 times for 403 yards, 4.6 per carry. The Patriots run defense has improved greatly over the last few weeks, and is now down to 103.1 rushing yards allowed per game, ninth in the league. This is a winnable matchup for New England.

3) They do have some perimeter weapons in Dwayne Bowe and Jonathan Baldwin that pose a matchup dilemma.

While there are other options in the passing game, Bowe and Baldwin are the two best options for the Chiefs on the perimeter -- Bowe averages 16.2 yards per catch, while Baldwin is second on the team with 15.4 yards per catch. Overall, Bowe leads Kansas City with 41 catches for 663 yards and four touchdowns, while Baldwin has eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown.

4) The injuries: Matt Cassel, Jamaal Charles, Tony Moeaki. Some of their top starters are gone for year. That’s hard to overcome.

Many key starters have been hit hard by injury, and their backups have struggled to match their production, particularly over the last two weeks where Kansas City has lost back-to-back games against the woeful Dolphins (31-3) and Broncos (17-10). Against Denver, Kansas City somehow lost to a team whose quarterback (Tim Tebow) completed two passes and top two running backs (Willis McGahee, Knowshon Moreno) went down with injuries.

5) The QB spot is now a dilemma. They have an unproven commodity inserted into the starting lineup with little if at all playing experience in Palko.

It certainly appears now that Palko will be making his first start as a professional Monday against the Patriots. A journeyman who has bounced around professional football -- including the CFL and the UFL -- Palko is a bit of a wild card because there’s not much film on him, other than his work in the preseason. As an aside, Palko might want to try and hit up Green Bay’s Matt Flynn for advice. Like Palko, Flynn was also a career backup who got his first chance to start as a pro against the Patriots last December because of an injury to a starter, and went 24-for-37 for 251 yards and three touchdowns against New England.