By the playoffs, all of these backup QBs are going to have tape out.

Jake Browning ain't winning a playoff game.

Mark Andrews has twice as many TD's as the next receiving weapon on the Ravens.

Lamar's QB rating when targeting Mark Andrews: 115
Lamar's QB rating when targeting everyone else: 90

Catastrophic loss for an already limited passing QB with a shit OL

:spock:

For sure. We have no safety depth and Reid/Edwards have little to no upside. Cook was only getting better. We'll find that out this first game with Buffalo's passing threats.

The difference is, they dominated in November/December in prior years. Since the start of November, this team looks below average and their record reflects that. Maybe they'll go on a nice run and end the season with five wins.

This much is true in any sport. If you've struggled in some area all season, it won't magically fix itself in the playoffs.

I think Reid and Edwards will be fine, but we are going to have to play more cautiously without Cook's speed.

I expect short completions are going to be coming easier against our defense.

This is true which is why this the game this week is huge. If we can win they just might fold up shop for good. As it is they would be a huge long shot to even make the playoffs but a loss to us could be something that can’t mentally come back from.

Yeah, for sure. I don't think there's a magic "fix" by any means.

But I also think if they'd stop turning it over and cut down on the penalties, it wouldn't be as much of an issue.

I’m not too worried about it but I think it feels different this year because we’ve switched strengths from an offensive juggernaut with a defense that does just enough to a stingy defense and an offense that struggles for long periods of time. The team is just totally different.

Plus, we’ve generally not lost to mid teams this late in the season like we just did with Green Bay. And obviously we’ve lost 3 of our last 5, which is never a good look.

The 2021 offense struggled all season with turnovers. The playoffs looked completely different until that second half against the Bengals. Once again, though, there's a big difference from 2021 to now, namely Tyreek and Watkins.

With the lack of talent, they need to be near perfect offensively. They can't overcome penalties, drops, or Mahomes being less than stellar. There's little room for error.

Am I the only one that would prefer us to lose in the playoffs rather than the Superbowl? I don't want to hear pundits blather on about how Mahomes is only 2-2 in Superbowls.

Bengals need a shitload of stuff to happen. They need Pitt and Cleve to drop completely out of the playoff picture, which is possible. They need to beat the Colts this week to have H2H tiebreakers against them and Buff and they need to win 4 of the next 5 which means Browning needs to keep playing at least at a game manager level and the defense needs to pick it up a lot.

Do you like Mahomes more or the Chiefs?

It's tempting but I'd rather have a shot at the repeat vs no shot.

Any given Sunday.

Yeah, that's nonsense. Same arguments the MJ clowns use against LeBron. Getting into the game remains an accomplishment in itself.