Looking forward to Ravens – Chiefs

It’s hard to believe that week 3 of the NFL season is already upon us, and what may be even harder to believe is that one of the most interesting and exciting games of the year is a match-up between our very own Baltimore Ravens and the electric Kansas City Chiefs.

Before the season started, a lot of fans around the league may have circled this game on the calendar as a fun match-up between a top ranked offense playing against a top defense. Of course the Chiefs were expected to be one of the best offenses in the NFL, but not many people expected the Chiefs and the Ravens to be the #1 and #3 ranked offenses in yards per game, the #1 and #4 ranked scoring offenses, and the #2 and #3 ranked offenses in DVOA.

The Ravens have certainly surprised the NFL through two weeks. Let me rephrase, Lamar Jackson has surprised the NFL, and the Ravens who looked like a potential fringe playoff team before the season started are in the conversation as a legitimate Super Bowl contender because of how good Jackson has looked through two weeks.

Last year, the Ravens played the Chiefs in week 14 of the regular season. It was a highly competitive game that was decided in OT, and it also happened to be the only regular season loss handed to the Ravens after Jackson took over as the starting QB.

Circling back to 2019 and we have two undefeated teams with championship aspirations and offenses that have been difficult for opposing defenses to slow down. This game has all the makings of a classic shootout, something the Chiefs were very familiar with in 2018, but so far in 2019 neither team has really faced an opponent with a high-powered offense.

We know that that both of these teams can score points, so the key to this game is likely going to be on defense and how the coach’s gameplans and adjustments can slow down the opposing offense. Let’s take a look at a few key match-ups in this game that could tilt this game in the favor of one team or the other.

You can discuss the Ravens upcoming match-up with the Chiefs on our message board and follow along Sunday in our game thread.

Ravens Edge Rushers vs OT Cam Erving

Injuries are an unfortunate part of football, and they often dictate the outcome of games when key players are not able to play. In this game, the Chiefs starting LT, Eric Fisher, is not going to be available as he just underwent core muscle surgery. This could be a huge chance for the Ravens defense to gain an edge. Last season when these two teams played, the Ravens defensive front gave Chiefs MVP QB Patrick Mahomes one of his toughest games of the year as they were constantly pressuring him when he dropped back to pass the ball. If there is one area in which Mahomes does not excel, it would be how he fares under pressure. This injury along the Chiefs offensive line could give Matt Judon, Pernell McPhee and Co. a chance to swing the pendulum in the Ravens favor.

Chris Jones vs Ravens interior offensive lineman

The Ravens pass-rushers will have a leg up on the Chiefs offensive line because of an injury. The Chiefs may have an edge over the Ravens offensive line because Chris Jones is an incredibly talented pass-rusher from the either the DE or DT position. If the Chiefs are smart, they will line up Jones over Matt Skura or Bradley Bozeman, the Ravens two weakest offensive lineman, and force the Ravens to find creative ways to block him. Of course double teaming Jones will leave other Chiefs pass-rushers in favorable positions, and the Chiefs just spent a lot of resources to bring in Frank Clark to play DE for them. Clark is another player who can cause problems for opposing teams, so it could be a long day for the Ravens offensive line. Of course, Lamar Jackson is a uniquely talented QB and is extremely capable of escaping pressure and making plays with his legs and arm on the run. Still, if the Ravens hope to keep up their offensive prowess they are going to need to find ways to slow down Jones and Clark.

Ravens secondary vs Chiefs WRs

Once again, injuries are going to have a very large impact on this game, but in this match-up both teams are missing key players as the Chiefs will be without All-Pro WR Tyreek Hill and the Ravens are down two starting CBs in Tavon Young and Jimmy Smith. Fortunately, both teams are very deep at these respective positions and how the Ravens can cover the Chiefs is likely going to be one of the keys to the game. Hill is one of the fastest players in the NFL, but even without him the Chiefs may have more speed at WR than any other team in the NFL. WR Sammy Watkins had a breakout week 1 game, and 3rd round draft pick Mecole Hardman who has 4.3 speed, showed why the Chiefs spent a high round pick on another WR. With Mahomes’ arm strength, deep ball accuracy and the speed of his receiving corps, any passing play can turn into TD.

It will be interesting to see how the Ravens choose to approach this game in terms of man versus zone coverage. When playing man, the Ravens will counter with top CB Marlon Humphrey likely spending a lot of time on Watkins, while Brandon Carr and Anthony Averett will have to split time between Hardman and Demarcus Robinson, who also had a massive week 2 performance. The Ravens trump card may prove to be All Pro free safety Earl Thomas who arguably possesses the best range of any safety in the NFL. With Thomas playing center field it may allow the Ravens to do a lot more interesting things in coverage and pressure packages than they could in previous seasons, and this could prove to be a huge factor against a team like the Chiefs who take more deep shots than anybody.

Ravens running game vs Chiefs front 7

When these teams faced each other in week 14 of last season, the Ravens rushed for 194 yards including 67 yards by Lamar Jackson who is coming off a career best 120 yards rushing last week against Arizona. The Chiefs had an extremely porous run defense in 2018, and while they have been fairly average through two weeks in 2019, I would expect the Ravens to attempt to establish the run early in this game in an effort to control time of possession while wearing down their opponent. The Ravens have upgraded their rushing attack with the additions of Mark Ingram and Justice Hill, and with the development of Lamar Jackson as a true dual threat QB, their ability (or inability) to run the ball may dictate the direction this game goes.

Bonus Match-up: Andy Reid vs Wink Martindale

Andy Reid is widely considered one of the great offensive minds of modern NFL and he has put together an offense in Kansas City that is uniquely capable of taking advantage of Patrick Mahomes and the rest of their extremely talented roster. When these two teams played last year, Martindale got the better of Reid in many ways. Even though the Chiefs ended up winning the game, it required a miracle 4th and long conversion as the Ravens defense frustrated and slowed down the Chiefs offense throughout the game. While Martindale has clearly proven to be one of the better defensive coordinators in the league, good offensive design is always going to give any defense problems. We saw this last week as rookie HC Kliff Kingsbury took his Air Raid offense and rookie QB into Baltimore, and put more stress on the Ravens defense than we have seen in quite some time. There were a number of route combinations that the Ravens defense was not prepared for, and this led to several blown coverages and big plays. If Reid was paying attention there were a number of concepts that could give the Ravens issues, if the Martindale is not able to make adjustments in the Ravens coverages.

Bonus Match-up #2: Ravens defense vs Travis Kelce

Kelce is the best TE in the league and weekly mis-match against every team he plays. He’s the complete package with elite size, speed, hands and route running ability. The Ravens are going to have to figure out a way to slow him down probably with some combination of Tony Jefferson, Anthony Levine and maybe even Marlon Humphrey.