Edelman will return on Saturday, his first game in nine weeks, as will Hightower, Vollmer and defensive end Chandler Jones, who led the Patriots with 12 1/2 sacks in 15 regular season games.

However, Coach Bill Belichick knows even at full strength this Chiefs team, winners of 11 in a row, will be a tough opponent at kickoff.

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“Kansas City is a good football team,” Belichick said. “They’re well coached. I’d say (Saturday)’s game was a typical Kansas City game this season or over the last three-quarters of the season — a lot of turnovers on defense, no turnovers on offense, capitalized on opponents’ mistakes and didn’t make any. They’ve won a lot of games pretty much doing that.”

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Here are three things the Chiefs must do to pull off the upset on Saturday.

Establish the run

The prognosis for Kansas City after star running back Jamaal Charles was lost in Week 5 wasn’t optimistic, but Coach Andy Reid squeezed a lot of production out of backups Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West.

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West produced 634 yards on 160 carries, finding the end zone four times in 15 games. Ware didn’t have as many opportunities (72 carries), but since Week 11 he leads the league in yards per carry after contact (3.91), per the game charters at Pro Football Focus.

Quarterback Alex Smith can also scramble out of the backfield. He has carried the ball 84 times for a total of 498 yards, scoring two touchdowns.

Football Outsiders had New England ranked 10th for run defense during the regular season, but their defensive front stopped 19 percent of rushes at or behind the line of scrimmage, placing them 21 out of 32 NFL teams. The Chiefs offensive line ranked No. 6, at 18 percent. A small difference, but one that could pay big dividends if Kansas city can control the line of scrimmage.

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Get tight end Travis Kelce involved early and often

Jeremy Maclin, the Chiefs most targeted receiver, was taken to the locker room on a cart after with an injury following a reception in the third quarter.

If he can go on Saturday, Smith has a reliable target who hauled in 87 passes for 1,088 yards and eight touchdowns. If he can’t, the Chiefs’ passing game will need to focus on Kelce, who the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin thinks “is as close to a comparison with Rob Gronkowski as you will find in the NFL.”

Kelce was second on the team in targets this year, catching 72 of 103 passes for 875 yards and five touchdowns, and was the leading target against the Texans, catching 8 of 10 for 128 yards. The Chiefs will line up Kelce as an in-line tight end, a slot receiver, and a boundary receiver. They’ll throw him bubble screens, and short crosses and deep crosses over the middle. They’ll use him as a wham blocker in the run game, and keep him in for extra protection against the blitz. He’s dangerous with the ball in his hands, with the ability to outrun defenders or plow right through them. Kelce (6 foot 5 inches, 255 pounds) is listed just an inch shorter and 10 pounds lighter than Gronk, and he even wears No. 87.

Other receivers who could get more involved if Maclin is sidelined include Albert Wilson and Chris Conley.

Put pressure on Tom Brady

The Chiefs have a good enough secondary to bottle up the Patriots’ passing game. Marcus Peters, the Chiefs’ Pro Bowl rookie, picked off eight passes overall this season and had four interceptions in the final five games of the season, one of which was returned for a touchdown. All-pro safety Eric Berry, who is just months removed from beating cancer, recorded 61 tackles with two interceptions and 10 passes defended this season.

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“They’ve got a real knack for creating issues in the passing game and then capitalizing on bad mistakes,” said Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Those mistakes include coverage sacks. Reid’s defensive unit ranked fourth in adjusted sack rate (7.7 percent), sacks (plus intentional grounding penalties) per pass attempt adjusted for down, distance, and opponent. The Patriots’ offensive line, meanwhile, allowed 26 sacks, 48 hits, and 147 hurries, the second-highest total of quarterback pressures in the NFL.

That could be enough to throw Brady off his game. When facing pressure, his passer rating drops from 104.6 to 96.6. And while he doesn’t throw many interceptions when facing the pass rush (three this season) his completion percentage does go from a sparkling 70.4 percent to a below-average 50.8 percent, per Pro Football Focus.

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“They play very good defense, they rush the quarterback, they get ahead, they play on their terms,” Brady said on WEEI. “They do a lot of things effectively, and schematic-wise, they present problems for an offense.