Let's Talk About Baltimore (AFC Championship)

[SHOWTIME]

Headed back to the AFC Championship Game!!!! Discuss.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Very reminiscent of the Bills fans of 2020 and '21... December momentums and point differential... oh, and the '19 Ravens, but I guess they'll tell you they were delusional that year and it's totally different this time.

And last year's 60 sack Eagles team that had all those sacks in the Super Bowl.

Didn't that eagles team have over 70 sacks?
And yeah, this is very reminiscent of that game. It was pointed out before that game that many of those sacks came in about 3 games
Against bad Qbs.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Didn't that eagles team have over 70 sacks?
And yeah, this is very reminiscent of that game. It was pointed out before that game that many of those sacks came in about 3 games
Against bad Qbs.

They sure did....That was also a better team than this Baltimore squad and those fans were even this clueless about what would happen

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by OneWinningDrive

Out of all of the unhinged delusionals here, you're right up there. The Ravens have 44 sacks with four or fewer pass rushers, which is nine more than any other team in the NFL. If there's a recipe for flustering Mahomes, it's exactly that.

And who are they trying to sack, sir?

They're trying to sack the QB of the team that had the lowest sack percentage in the league even with all of its offensive issues, who has been consistently elite at not being sacked throughout his career.

Throw in that he is protected by one of the better pass-blocking OLs in the NFL, and the prediction the Ravens will have to blitz to get him on the ground is pretty darn sensible.

The only out here is that the Ravens are able to get Madubuike consistently whipping Allegretti. He's no Joe Thuney, but he's also a quality veteran with starting experience and just held up well against Ed Oliver last week. And has Creed Humphrey to his right for help if he needs it on pass sets.

[StalkRavenMad]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

There’s a difference between “knocking” and providing context to “look how many 10-win teams they beat!”

BTW, the Jags didn’t win 10 games.

I credited the Lions and 49ers wins as impressive wins.

Beating the Browns with Dorian Thompson-Robinson at QB? Nope.

The Texans in CJ Stroud’s first start, and then without 2/3 of their WR starters? Not really.

There’s always context involved.

And sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story, especially in samples as small as a single NFL season.

The Ravens have had a great year and are a great team. If they beat the Chiefs, they will win the Super Bowl having the best record in the league and having head-to-head wins against every member of the conference championship weekend. It would stamp them as one of the best teams in recent NFL history.

We’ll see what happens.

Confidence from the Chiefs end stems from:
1) an excellent defense that performed within fractional points of the Ravens immovable force D

2) an offense that consistently moved the ball but was held back by penalties and drops

3) having Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, who have put the blowtorch to top defenses repeatedly during their time together, even when numbers like DVOA indicated they can’t/should not.

4) styles making fights. The chiefs defensive style and personnel is the style and personnel that gives you the best chance against the Ravens offense. The Chiefs have an offensive mastermind and elite-elite QB who perform extremely well against blitzing, zone-heavy defenses.

And
5) this is our board. If you can’t read confidence from the Chiefs fans and critiques of your own team, maybe this isn’t for you. And you should go chug some antifreeze.

The only issue with this is that you cherry pick how the Ravens beat an injured Texans team while in the same breath lauding the Chiefs for beating two teams whose defense were depleted by injuries.

[StalkRavenMad]

Originally Posted by Pasta Little Brioni

Turnovers by a defense have PROVEN to be completely driven by luck...sorry

Please share said proof.

[OneWinningDrive]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

It's not unhinged, Vegas odds are insinuating that it will be hard for Baltimore to sack Mahomes. I believe we are the 2nd least sacked team in the league, just behind the Bills. Even with Thuney out, our Oline should be ok. Also, statistics show most of your sacks were against QB's that get sacked more than average.

I'm not sure that the odds for a prop bet tell us much about what the question is here: whether the Ravens are going to need to blitz more than usual in this game. The stat I cited clearly shows they can get to the quarterback without blitzing. And the Ravens' blitz percentage overall is below the league average.

[Tribal Warfare]

Hello, Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/TF4DH6Hoce

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 27, 2024

[Chief_N_Bama]

Originally Posted by StalkRavenMad

The only issue with this is that you cherry pick how the Ravens beat an injured Texans team while in the same breath lauding the Chiefs for beating two teams whose defense were depleted by injuries.

You’re right. It’s only because the Dolphins and bills were injured that the Chiefs are playing in their 6th consecutive AFCCG.

And who would assume the ravens benefited from injuries when they are such a consistently dominant playoff team. There’s simply now way a #1 seed ravens team would lose to an AFC South team in the divisional round with an MVP qb, right???

[StalkRavenMad]

Originally Posted by Chief_N_Bama

This isn't true. No one is saying Lamar is the reason the ravens will win. It's the ravens defense and the fact that the Chiefs offense has not been its normally dominant self. But no one is saying that LAMAR is the reason the ravens win tomorrow.

Which is odd for a "2 time MVP".

everyone knows that without Lamar the Ravena arwnr even in terms AFCCG. If we win tomorrow Lamar will have had a great game.

[Chief_N_Bama]

Originally Posted by OneWinningDrive

Out of all of the unhinged delusionals here, you're right up there. The Ravens have 44 sacks with four or fewer pass rushers, which is nine more than any other team in the NFL. If there's a recipe for flustering Mahomes, it's exactly that.

I remember the Eagles saying the same thing.

ravens are 4th in sack rate. Guess who’s first? The Chiefs.

Lamar is the 9th most sacked qb at 7.5% of drop backs.

Mahomes is 2nd fewest at 4.3%.

Who do you really think this favors??? Eagles didn’t sack Mahomes and the Chiefs got Jalen twice. And their pash rush was far surperior to the ravens. Y’all’s are coverage sacks.

[StalkRavenMad]

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief

You say the Chiefs victory vs. the Bills is diminished because they were missing 2 starters from the week before, yet the Texans were without two of their top WR's...

The Bills LBs were the back uos to the back ups. AJ Klien chilling in Planet Chiefs 20 minutes before KO.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by StalkRavenMad

everyone knows that without Lamar the Ravena arwnr even in terms AFCCG. If we win tomorrow Lamar will have had a great game.

If Lamar runs for 100+, the Chiefs' chances of winning are ultra slim.

The Chiefs are going to send blitzes, a lot of them. We get to see if the new and improved Lamar can beat press coverage on the level the Chiefs can play it. Or, if he can stay alive and run through the vacated lanes, that'll be how he gets 100 on the ground if it happens.

[OneWinningDrive]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

And who are they trying to sack, sir?

They're trying to sack the QB of the team that had the lowest sack percentage in the league even with all of its offensive issues, who has been consistently elite at not being sacked throughout his career.

Throw in that he is protected by one of the better pass-blocking OLs in the NFL, and the prediction the Ravens will have to blitz to get him on the ground is pretty darn sensible.

The only out here is that the Ravens are able to get Madubuike consistently whipping Allegretti. He's no Joe Thuney, but he's also a quality veteran with starting experience and just held up well against Ed Oliver last week. And has Creed Humphrey to his right for help if he needs it on pass sets.

I'm not discounting the Chiefs' pass protection or Mahomes' elusiveness. They're both great. And the Ravens will blitz. What I was addressing is the suggestion that the Ravens cannot get home without blitzing and so will be forced to blitz more than they want to/should.

The Dolphins game two weeks ago was an example of a team that had no choice but to run the same blitzes repeatedly against the Chiefs. They had so many injuries that even though the blitz is a known death sentence against Mahomes, doing so was still better than not getting any pressure whatsoever with four and just letting Mahomes carve them up.

The Ravens are in a completely different position. They get to the QB with four.

Of course, that won't be enough. If all you ever did was bring four, that wouldn't amount to nearly enough pressure. So they will need to blitz occasionally. But it's not like any kind of blitz is prima facie dead on arrival against Mahomes. The thing you can't do is give him looks he has already seen on tape or in the game. But the Ravens have as deep and diverse of a playbook as there is in the league, and they will give him looks he hasn't seen before. He might still beat them, but it's not going to be spamming of the same blitz packages that he easily recognizes and brushes off.

[Chief_N_Bama]

Originally Posted by StalkRavenMad

everyone knows that without Lamar the Ravena arwnr even in terms AFCCG. If we win tomorrow Lamar will have had a great game.

That just means Lamar is the starting qb. Would the Chiefs be here without Mahomes?? The 9ers wouldn’t be in the NFCCG without Purdy. Doesn’t make him the MVP.

[RedinTexas]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Hello, Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/TF4DH6Hoce

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 27, 2024

Kelce - "I came here to catch touchdown passes and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of bubble gum."