The New England Patriots made it look easy at home vs. the Los Angeles Chargers. But Bill Belichick’s team will hit the road in the AFC Championship.
Pick your adjective: Methodical, efficient, overpowering. Two quarters into the New England Patriots’ 41-28 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at Foxborough in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, Tom Brady and company owned a 35-7 lead and had more than doubled the Bolts in total yardage (347-128).
When it was all said and done, the Pats rolled up 498 yards (155 on the ground) and limited Anthony Lynn’s squad to 335 total yards — just a mere 19 on the ground.
Including the playoffs, Bill Belichick and his squad have now won 16 consecutive games at Gillette Stadium dating back to 2017. Of course, the team’s next contest won’t be at home but at Kansas City as the Chiefs play host to the conference game for the first time ever in its proud history. And this is also a rematch of the team’s wild Sunday night clash in Week 6, when the Patriots came away with a 43-40 victory — at Foxborough.
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But this clash won’t be in New England. It’s at the home of the AFC’s top playoff seed in 2018. A Chiefs’ team that scored 565 points during the regular season (third-highest total in NFL history) and 31 more in an 18-point playoff win over the visiting Indianapolis Colts. And this Pats’ team has been hard to figure away from the land of clam chowder this year.
Belichick’s squad was 3-5 on the road this season, including double-digit losses at Jacksonville (31-20), at Detroit (26-10) and at Tennessee (34-10). There were late losses at Miami (34-33) and at Pittsburgh (17-10). And it may or may not be worth noting that none of these five teams reached the playoffs in 2018.
All told, it was the first losing showing on the road by the club since going 2-6 away from Foxborough since 2009. Meanwhile, the Chiefs have lost just once at home in nine tries this year, a 29-28 loss to the Chargers on a Thursday night in Week 15.
The New England Patriots are headed to the AFC Championship Game for the eighth consecutive year. And the Chiefs are more than aware of what Brady and company are capable of. But which version of Belichick’s club will show up at Arrowhead Stadium next weekend? It’s a club that has been somewhat predictable away from Foxborough this season. And that’s not a compliment by any stretch of the imagination.