It’s a battle of the new generation of quarterbacks this week as the Baltimore Ravens visit the Kansas City Chiefs. Both teams come into this matchup undefeated and riding their offenses to big totals. This game could have a major effect on the AFC playoff race, especially for home-field advantage.
With such an important game at our feet, I wanted to get the inside scoop on what Kansas City has going for them this year. For that information, I turned to Chiefs Wire managing editor Charles Goldman for his analysis.
1) Patrick Mahomes is off to an MVP-caliber start to the season. How can the Ravens hope to slow him down?
Pray that he forgot to eat his Mahomes Magic Crunch cereal in the morning. People have been trying to slow Mahomes down for 21 games, including the playoffs. All offseason, Chiefs fans heard from opposing fan bases, “Now that teams have tape on Mahomes and a full offseason to study him, he’ll regress.” Yet, he’s on pace to throw for 500 more yards and six more touchdown passes than he did in 2018.
If you look at Mahomes’ start to the season so far, his performances have come virtually entirely from the pocket. A lot of that is because he’s still dealing with residual effects of a minor ankle sprain suffered in Week 1. You’re not seeing him roll out and avoid pressure to make a play quite as often.
Mahomes will be a lot closer to 100% for the home opener this week. I’d still try to send as much pressure at him as I could with exotic blitzes, twists and stunts. [Defensive coordinator Don] Wink Martindale needs to bust out as many unscouted looks as he has available to him. The goal should be to test Mahomes and that ankle early on and try to find something that works against him.
2) The Chiefs defense has had fairly easy competition but still ranks 19th in yards allowed. Is that a fair indication of their level of play?
I don’t know that I’d call back-to-back weeks on the road against two physical AFC rivals easy competition. The Chiefs broke the Jaguars last year and they were hungry for revenge. The Raiders always play the Chiefs as if it’s their Super Bowl. If you take away some of the situational stuff from the first two weeks, I think the defense is looking a bit better on paper. For instance, a good chunk of the yards surrendered to the Jaguars in Week 1 came in garbage time, when the Chiefs already had a sufficient lead.
I think when you’re implementing any new defensive scheme, there’s going to be an adjustment period in the first quarter of the season. You’ve got a lot of new bodies working together for the first time, from rookies to free agent acquisitions to veterans. They’re all learning a new system and how to work together. They don’t really get enough repetitions to do that in the offseason and preseason, so they’re really building chemistry on the fly. There have definitely been some encouraging signs, but there’s always going to be room for improvement. As they work out some of the kinks and miscommunications they’ll only get better.
I’m really excited to see what they’ll be able to do at home with the Arrowhead crowd roaring at their backs. If you’ll recall the 2018 regular season, the most any team scored against the Chiefs at home was 29 points, which came in Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
3) Outside of Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins, what other receiving options do the Ravens have to pay special attention to?
Anyone with two hands that is wearing a red jersey. When games are within seven points, the Chiefs are throwing the football over 70% of the time. The Chiefs under Andy Reid love to throw the football and seem to have endless weapons capable of exploding on offense at any given time.
Currently, they are going on back-to-back weeks with the NFL’s weekly receiving yards leader on their team, with Sammy Watkins in Week 1 and Demarcus Robinson in Week 2. A 75-yard touchdown to Mecole Hardman got called back on a holding penalty against the Raiders [last week]; otherwise, he would have gone for over 100 yards receiving and two scores also.
It’s not just the receivers either — it’s the tight ends and running backs. Heck, even the fullback is capable of catching passes in crucial situations. As Jon Gruden said following Week 2, you have to be prepared to cover every blade of grass when you face the Chiefs offense.
4) The Chiefs have only managed to get a sack on 5.6% of pass attempts, which ranks 23rd in the NFL. How will they plan to attack Lamar Jackson, who has been able to avoid pressure with his legs?
The sack rate is certainly alarming. However, the Chiefs also face back-to-back opponents that have relied on the quick passing game to avoid pressure. Derek Carr, for instance, is getting the ball out in 2.42 seconds on average. That’s good for the third-quickest in the NFL.
As for Jackson, I have a feeling the Chiefs are going to attempt to keep in the pocket and dare him to beat them through the air. Contrary to popular belief, the Chiefs pass defense hasn’t been too bad through the first two games. Kendall Fuller and Bashaud Breeland have done more good things than bad things. At the end of the day, I don’t think they’ll want Jackson getting outside of contain and beating them with his legs.
Alternatively, they have a number of athletic defenders who could come in and play the spy role. If you look back at how Steve Spagnuolo’s defenses defend mobile quarterbacks, they’re pretty sound in their responsibilities, especially on designed run plays. It’s because he frequently stresses fundamentals and has the players practice those responsibilities.
5) What’s your final score prediction and which Kansas City player has the biggest impact on the game, good or bad?
I locked in my prediction ahead of the season at 23-20 with a Chiefs victory. Obviously, now I’m thinking that the score could easily be 10 points higher for both teams. We’re potentially looking at two of the best offenses in the AFC. Typically, those types of games turn into shootouts, but it’s also possible that these defenses slow things down. After all, they’re the ones who’ve been practicing against these high-powered offenses.
The player I’m looking to on the Chiefs in terms of impact is backup LT Cam Erving. He was called into action for Eric Fisher last week against the Raiders and he did a great job against Clelin Ferrell. The Chiefs will be without Fisher as he’s set to undergo surgery for a core muscle injury. If Erving can build on last week’s performance, that spot won’t be a worry. If he backslides a bit and struggles, you’ll see a lot of anxious Chiefs fans during and after the game.
