Nine things every fan should know about the Chiefs and Ravens
The Kansas City Chiefs play their third game on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. What should fans watch for in the Chiefs vs Ravens rematch?
The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off an up-and-down performance against what appears to be a somewhat resurgent Oakland Raiders team. It wasn’t a perfect outing by any means, but the team rallied in the second quarter and unleashed an offensive onslaught that you can bet made opposing defensive coordinators around the league stop for a moment.
The 4 touchdown and nearly 300 yard performance in that quarter by Mahomes, especially considering he was throwing mostly to the third and fourth receiver on the Chiefs depth chart, was otherworldly. There was some concern about Mahomes regressing this season, and we still have yet to play a truly great team, but even missing his top wide receiver for nearly seven of the last eight quarters and being hobbled by an ankle injury, he looks like he’s taken his play from last year up another notch.
That said, the Chiefs face their toughest test of the early season this upcoming Sunday. The Chiefs vs Ravens will be a rematch of one of the most epic games last year, and a matchup of two of the most quickly ascending quarterbacks in the NFL. Obviously, there are a ton of storylines to watch in the game on Sunday.
Lamar’s competition gets tougher
Say hello to the newest media darling: Lamar Jackson. Last season, the media preyed on Jackson because of his seeming inability to hit open receivers and his all around inaccuracy from the pocket. There was never a question that he was a great athlete, but most wondered if he could ever be a great all around quarterback in a league that is transitioning more and more to throwing the ball all game long.
Well, he seems to be doing pretty well early on. In his first two contests of 2019 he’s completed nearly 72 percent of his passes, for 596 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s also added 19 rushes for 126 yards on the ground.
Those are some pretty gaudy numbers when you consider even if he only averaged 80 percent of that production for the whole season he’d finish the year with nearly 4,000 yards passing, 45 passing touchdowns and 800 rushing yards. This could easily put him in the driver seat for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award and truthfully, it would be one of the greatest all-around seasons for a quarterback.
Here’s the kicker. A huge portion of that production came against the Miami Dolphins. As we all know by now, the Dolphins are in full-on tank mode this season. I honestly can’t remember a team that has ever been quite so blatant about it. Even the Colts in 2011 seemed like they were still trying to compete with teams. You just don’t see that with Miami, and it’s why a lot of their players are requesting trades. It’s truly unprecedented.
He also had a pretty decent game against the Arizona Cardinals, but again there are some serious question marks about whether Kliff Kingsbury can actually put together a good defense. The jury is still out on the Cardinals and likely will be for the majority of the season.
The question is whether Jackson can keep even a semblance of this production up as they continue into a more difficult part of their schedule. Either way, the Chiefs will have their hands full against the Ravens on Sunday.