I think we deserve to be underdogs, with the key injuries we have and with the team in general not being as good as it was last year. But when you have the better HC and QB you can win every game.

It will come down to all the "comes down to" cliches. Turnovers, penalties, scoring in the red zone.

I expect the Ravens to run the ball early, often and successfully. It'll suck to watch, and the GDT will be as full of quitters as ever. The game will be just as the Ravens pray every game is for them. Very comfortable. The announcers will be ball washing them the whole time.

I expect Spags to make great half-time adjustments. The game will suddenly start to seem up in the air. The Ravens start to panic when it's 3rd and 8 every time instead of 3rd and 3.

Most importantly, in the 4th quarter I expect Patrick Lavon Mahomes II to make the critical play at the critical moment. After Lamar throws wide or long or short on their biggest play, 15 converts with his arm or legs. As he always does.

Chiefs 23
Ravens 20

The game is a lot more enjoyable if you stay away from it, especially if we're losing. The people who live to see the Chiefs lose roll around in a loss like a dog in another dog's mess.

I dunno. I don't know that we're that big of a dog. The most points we gave up was to the Packers at 27. Our offensive low was 9 against the Broncos. Our output in both those games was fire roasted ass. If we have that output in the AFCCG it will be a huge disappointment.

I think we can put up 17 on anybody - probably 21. Ravens are good and Lamar is going to get some plays nobody else can, so I think 24 is probably a good place to shoot for. The spread is Balt -4. I don't think we're a multiple score dog.

We can get housed pretty good because their defense is straight filthy, but their defense gave up 31 to the rams, 33 to Cleveland, 24 to the Cardinals (LOL WUT), 24 to the Bengals (I think that's before Burrow got hurt, so that's OK) and 22 to the Colts (I can't remember when Richardson went down, so whatever). So the lows for the Ravens are lower than our defense. They also ****ing prison raped the Texans last week, the 9ers a few weeks ago, the Jags, the Seahawks only put up 3 the Lions 6. So their highs are probably higher than ours too. But facing their defense - in the playoffs, I'm sure Reid will get us at least one big chunk play, and Mahomes will make something happen. The weak spot is if our receivers come in with weak hands and start puking the ball up. That's how it gets out of hand, but at a base level I think we're going to have some measure of success.

Defensively, we've done pretty well against them. Spags isn't going to do anything dumb like send DE's super wide and open up huge lanes for Lamar to run. Gap discipline is a thing, and Lamar can defeat angles LBs take. But I think we can get enough pressure to get him off platform, and I think we can do a decent job of taking away easy throws, which Lamar feasts on. Likely is good, and I think him as a pressure relief is probably their biggest weapon. I like our corners against their receivers, but their OL can ****ing hold for days. This defense has earned the rope to hang themselves with. So I like where we're at.

Ravens are ****ing good and like it or not Harbitch can coach. I think our defense though, is good enough to make it hard on Lamar. It will be interesting to see if he can take the next step in terms of making big plays in the playoffs.

If he runs wild all over wide open gaps, it will suck, but I think we'll be able to see if Lamar can be a guy that can make plays in tight windows under pressure or not.

LOL the Scooby Doo memes would be epic.

To paraphrase one of the talking heads earlier this week while talking about this game - "Are you really going to bet against Playoff Mahomes? The regular season is what it was, but this is Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, and he only loses to Brady or Burrow (once)."

I expect to win, I think. The Ravens are no joke, but Mahomes lives for these games and our team is playoff tested and have been in this position far more than Baltimore has. Give me the Chiefs.

KC - 24
Balt - 23

This

Baltimore 69
KC -11


Cuz DVOA, MVP and stuff..

We have to rush 6 at Lamar. Look at the stats when he faces a rush of 6.

To pull this off you obviously need the corners to play one on one. We have the corners to pull this off.

Side benefit, helps with the run game and contains Lamar.

Texans game was a blowout

I watch the NFL for years during Brady's run and spit every statistic and gave every reason for why this time it was different. This time the Pats or Brady were done. This time, this rare team, this super collection of players would end it.

It never did.

Through constantly failing I watched and learned what consistently won. Who were the rare teams that broke through and managed to top Brady?

Excellent HC, great QB, great defense. Many times those criteria were all met and Brady still won.

When you have the greatest QB of all time most of the time it doesn't really matter who you play. That's the soul crushing reality of the situation. You aren't allowed to kill the QB any more and remove him from the game so the great QB's are going to live to play until the're 40 now. They'll win repeatedly along the way. There will be nothing much that can be done to stop them.

Stop him.

13 seconds won't be lost. The immaculate reception was in a divisional playoff game and the Steelers lost the next week to Miami. I'm not saying that 13 seconds is equivalent to the immaculate reception, but it is a result that really stands out because of how great the game was.

This.

I expect a win, the only way we lose is if the receiver problem rears its ugly head again