LIVE: Patriots vs. Chiefs

KANSAS CITY – The Patriots are trying to do something that only two other NFL teams have ever done – appear in three straight Super Bowls (Miami, Buffalo). But in order to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta and take on the Los Angeles Rams, Tom Brady & Co. have to overcome their poor road performances this season and topple the No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Keep up with all the action by following The Journal’s team on Twitter. [...]

KANSAS CITY – The Patriots are trying to do something that only two other NFL teams have ever done – appear in three straight Super Bowls (Miami, Buffalo). But in order to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta and take on the Los Angeles Rams, Tom Brady & Co. have to overcome their poor road performances this season and topple the No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Keep up with all the action by following The Journal’s team on Twitter.

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Wise, Shelton inactive

The Patriots will be without two of their better defensive linemen for the AFC Championship game.

Deatrich Wise and Danny Shelton are inactive on Sunday. Both are surprises and healthy scratches.

Wise finished second on the Patriots in sacks (4.5) and quarterback hits (16). He missed last weekend’s game against Los Angeles with an ankle injury. The defensive end started the week on the injury report, but was off it by Thursday. This marks the first healthy scratch of Wise’s career. He played in every game last year and played in all 16 regular-season games this season.

Shelton is once again a healthy scratch. He was inactive for three-straight games between Week 13-15, but played in the last three contests. Shelton helped the Patriots run defense when he returned to the lineup.

Derek Rivers is active and gets the call over Wise at defensive end. Rivers suited up last week and played in six games this season, making one sack. Obi Melifonwu also gets the call. The safety hasn't played since Week 13. He was inactive for the last five games. The second-year player appeared in two games with the Patriots this season.

Also inactive is Ufomba Kamalu, Stephen Anderson, James Ferentez, Keionta Davis and Duke Dawson.

Welcome to Arrowhead Stadium 

Welcome to Arrowhead Stadium where the Patriots will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in today’s AFC Championship game.

It all comes down to this. The winner of this matchup will take on the winner of the NFC Championship in Super Bowl LII in Atlanta. This marks the eighth-straight year that the Patriots will have played in the conference championship game.

The Patriots are as healthy as they’ve been all season. The team had perfect attendance for all three sessions this past week. They never had anyone limited or on the injury report on Thursday or Friday. The injury report was blank on Friday with no players listed as questionable.

The Chiefs started this week with nine players on the injury report, but by the time Friday came they had one player on it – linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, who was ruled out with an ankle injury.

This game marks one of the best home teams vs. one of the worst road teams in the NFL. The Patriots finished this season 3-5 on the road. That was their worst mark since 2009. If they can overcome that hurdle, they’ll be in their third Super Bowl in a row.

It’s cold out in Kansas City, but the arctic blast never came through like we all thought it could be. Three hours before game time and it’s 23 degrees outside, although it feels like 11 degrees. Early reports had the temperatures below 10 degrees.