This weekend we'll see the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs square off for the second straight AFC Championship Game and obviously, the Queen City is pulling for the stripes to prevail.
When it comes to these tightly-contested games, it's hard to really point to stats being the turning point because it feels like these matchups come down to a lucky or unlucky bounce. Even with that said, these stats might be what decides who represents the AFC in the Super Bowl.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
Rushing Yards
When the Bengals can run the ball well, their offense is able to become more unpredictable and keep defenses on their toes more. The same can certainly be said for the Chiefs too, who always seem to run the ball well against the Bengals.
In last year's AFC Championship, the Chiefs were running the ball incredibly well in the first half and KC got off to a big lead. In the second half, despite leading by double-digits, they went away from their run game in a move that made no sense.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, tends to run the ball well against the Chiefs as well and despite not having much of a rushing attack over the past month and a half or so, dominated in the trenches this past week. The Bengals run game totaled 172 rushing yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
Whoever is better at running the ball this week has the better shot at winning.