Seven storylines to follow when the Patriots play the Chiefs for the AFC championship

Here are seven things to watch for when the Patriots bid for their third consecutive Super Bowl berth at Kansas City.

FOXBORO – Seven storylines to follow when the Patriots appear in their eighth straight AFC Championship Game, taking on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in a 6:40 p.m. start on Sunday:

Road worriers – Sick of reading about the Patriots’ road woes during the 2018 season?

Well then, grab yourself the Pepto-Bismol because you’re about to read about them again.

While they were perfect at home (9-0 including last Sunday’s 41-28 divisional round win over the Los Angeles Chargers), the Patriots went 3-5 on the road during the regular season, all five of those losses were to non-playoff teams, three of them were by double digits, and they’ll take the field in Kansas City having lost three of their past four away from home.

He isn’t kidding – The numbers 23-year-old Patrick Mahomes put up during the regular season in his second year in the NFL, his first as a starter, weren’t simply MVP worthy, they were downright jaw dropping (5,097 yards passing, 50 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, a 66.0-percent completion rate and a passer rating of 113.8).

The Patriots saw two quarterbacks in one when they met the Chiefs back in Week 6 of the regular season in a 43-40 Sunday night classic decided by Stephen Gostkowski’s fifth field goal of the game, a 28-yarder as time expired at Gillette Stadium.

In the first half, Mahomes appeared overwhelmed by the variety of looks and disguises the Patriots defense gave him, throwing two interceptions and struggling to compile a passer rating of 46.3, leading folks in Foxboro to wonder what all the fuss was about.

In the second half, Mahomes was outstanding, tossing four touchdown passes and compiling a passer rating of 151.4 as the Chiefs showed why they would go on to lead the league in scoring, averaging 35.3 points per game.

A dangerous Hill – Wide receiver Tyreek Hill has faced the Patriots twice in his three-year career, and he’s inflicted major damage on both occasions.

The wide receiver caught seven passes in 12 targets for 142 yards and three touchdowns in the two teams’ meeting in mid-October. He also caught seven passes in eight targets for 133 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ 42-27 win over the Patriots in the teams’ 2017 season opener in Foxboro.

Williams steps it up – Damien Williams, who carried the ball just once for 1 yard against the Patriots in that regular-season matchup in October, has stepped forward for the Chiefs.

Williams is coming off an impressive performance that saw him rush 25 times for 129 yards and a touchdown and catch five passes for another 25 yards in last Saturday’s 31-13 divisional round rout of Indianapolis.

Kareem Hunt, who led the league in rushing with 1,327 yards as a rookie in 2017 and carried the ball 10 times for 80 yards and caught five passes for 105 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown, in that game against the Patriots in October, was released by the Chiefs on Nov. 30 after he was placed on the NFL’s Commissioner Exempt List when TMZ released a video of him assaulting a woman in a Cleveland hotel in February.

Granted, it was a much smaller sample size – Williams carried the ball just 50 times for 256 yards and four touchdowns (all career highs after spending his first four years in the league with Miami) to Hunt’s 181 carries for 824 yards and seven TDs – but his 5.1-yard average during the regular season was superior to the 4.6-yard average his predecessor had as the team’s lead back. Williams also caught 23 passes for 160 yards and another couple of touchdowns during the regular season.

The Patriots have a past with Williams, who spent his first four years in the league (2014-2017) with Miami. In seven games against the Pats with the Dolphins, Williams carried the ball 14 times for 55 yards, caught 11 passes for 84 yards and returned one kickoff for 19 yards.

Better than advertised? – Limiting the woeful Oakland Raiders and their lame offense to three points in a 35-3 regular season-ending rout was one thing; holding Andrew Luck and the Colts to one meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter last Saturday was another.

Yes, Tom Brady & Co. carved them up to the tune of 43 points and 500 total yards in that October shootout (Brady threw for 340) and the Chiefs ranked 24th in points allowed during the regular season, but just as the Patriots were a different team at home and on the road, so was the Kansas City defense. The Chiefs have limited opponents to 17.4 points per game at home this season while surrendering nearly twice that number (34.6 PPG) on the road.

No one’s disputing the fact that the Chiefs have warts on defense – they ranked 31st in the league in total defense and pass defense and 27th against the run during the regular season – but led by end Chris Jones (15-1/2) and linebackers Dee Ford (13) and Justin Houston (nine) they did tie Pittsburgh for the league lead with 52 sacks.

Line dancing – Paving the way for 173 yards and three touchdowns on 38 carries with rookie Sony Michel leading the ground game with 24 carries for 106 yards and two first-half TDs, the Patriots offensive line was dominant at the point of attack when these two teams met a little more than three months ago,

Like Michel, James White was effective on the ground, gaining 39 yards on six carries, and even Kenjon Barner (remember him?) chipped in with three carries for 16 yards.

The line (with help from tight end Rob Gronkowski) was also dominant last Sunday against the Chargers, clearing the way as Michel carried the ball 24 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

Establishing a ground game (and keeping Brady upright in the face of the Chiefs’ rush), staying on the field and keeping Mahomes and KC’s high-octane offense off it would go a long way toward a Patriots win.

Special defects – As if the Chiefs’ offense isn’t enough to contend with, the Patriots didn’t make things any easier on themselves in that October game by allowing Tremon Smith to break a fourth-quarter kickoff return for 97 yards before being chased down from behind by Devin McCourty.

Smith’s return set up a 1-yard TD toss from Mahomes to Hill that brought KC all the way back from a 24-9 halftime deficit to a 33-30 lead.

Smith, who averaged 29.4 yards on 33 returns to finish fourth in the NFL during the regular season, poses a challenge to a Patriots kick coverage team that allowed 24.6 yards on 42 returns during the regular season, a weak 26th in the league.

And as he is on offense, Hill (a 10.7-yard average with one TD) poses a game-breaking threat on punt returns to a team that was also 26th in the league in that department during the regular season, allowing an average of 10.2 yards on 25.

The Patriots’ special teams have improved, however, since the in-season additions of Albert McClellan and Ramon Humber.

Glen Farley may be reached at gfarley@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GFarley_ent.