Let's Talk About Baltimore (AFC Championship)

[SHOWTIME]

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

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Kiimo

I do love it when fans are like "man they are so overconfident! We're going to shock them!"



You guys, we don't play in the game. Our confidence levels affect the outcome 0%.

Acting like we're all bandwagoners since we made 6 straight AFCCG, unfortunately no.

The bandwagoners don't post here. All of us are left over from the dark times. From the 30 years without a playoff win.

Before you even had a team.

To be fair, I think it was 22 years without a playoff win.

But yeah, for me personally, I've been a Chiefs fan since 1990 when they started becoming good and they started showing their games on TV. Been on this site for damn near a quarter of a century.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

Honestly, it boils down to something very simple.

The Ravens were without question the better team this year. More consistently dominant throughout the season, and they earned a lot of those flowers.

The hope for Chiefs fans rests on the fact that we have the best player in the league and experience. We've been in these wars before. We've fought the hot teams no one wants to play and vanquished them (Colts '18, Titans '19, Bills '21, Bengals '22). We've battled the teams with far better rosters (Niners '19, Eagles '22) and come out on top. We've had wars in the postseason that best resemble Balboa/Drago.

If you want to believe your eyes from the regular season, this game won't be close and the Ravens will run away with it. Easily. Not even close.

But if you want to appreciate this team's DNA and how it's played the last couple weeks and if you want to be mindful of the fact that this team has found ways to turn it out when it matters for multiple years in a row, then the Chiefs have every bit of a chance in this game.

The Chiefs fans have a history of watching this team overachieve in this situation. The Ravens fans want to believe that this current season's iteration thus far is the only thing that really matters.

Time will tell. I still think the Ravens win this game 60% of the time, but I wouldn't bet against Mahomes. A lot of people picked against the Chiefs last SB, were wrong, vowed to never bet against this team again, and have now spent the last 2 weeks picking against them again.

**** around and find out, perhaps.

Such a great post.
The one game that really stands out to me is that Titans AFC Championship game from the 2019 season. Their superstar RB had been terrorizing opponents in their first 2 playoff games. And we shut down Derrick Henry in that game.

[JPH83]

I think the Ravens this year are better than the Eagles last year. Worse at WR but their LBs and secondary are a fair notch above. I don't think we'll score a lot, but I don't think they will either. Gonna be a close one.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by tredadda

They are typical overconfident fans that KC sees all the time. They think that because over here we aren’t crowning the Ravens as SB Champions already we are somehow giving bulletin board material.

There are some solid posters on the Ravens board I checked out, but the majority of it is essentially “We are gonna smash KC because our team is so awesome!”

Nothing different than we heard from Titans fans, Niner fans, Bills fans, Bengals fans, and Eagles fans to name a few.

Could they win? Sure. This isn’t the strongest Chiefs team of the Mahomes era. But a win (and blowout for that matter) is no guarantee.

I do know that if they lose the usual excuses will fly. “Rigged!”, “Scripted!”, “Swift!”, “Goodell!” etc. They are so confident of their superiority that a loss to the scrappy Chiefs is unfathomable. Nothing else will explain a loss but some sort of conspiracy.

No acknowledging that KC has played in 6 straight AFCCGs, 3 of the last 4 SBs while winning two of them. They are the defending champions for a reason.

Personally I love this position. KC has already won multiple Lombardis. If they win, I get to enjoy another SB. If not, I look forward to next year. A loss won’t be as devastating as it will be to the self crowned Ravens. Look at Buffalo fans and their despair and hatred for KC.

I respect the team and I really do like Jackson. If they win I will be pulling for them vs SF (if they make it). That respect doesn’t mean I will annoint them as some All Madden team that will blow out the Chiefs.

IMO, this will be a close game. If B'more wins, it won't be a blowout. That's just silly talk.

[Kman34]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Such a great post.
The one game that really stands out to me is that Titans AFC Championship game from the 2019 season. Their superstar RB had been terrorizing opponents in their first 2 playoff games. And we shut down Derrick Henry in that game.

I think Derrick ran for a TD and threw for one in the first half… Then we shut him down in the second… Mainly because they were behind…

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Such a great post.
The one game that really stands out to me is that Titans AFC Championship game from the 2019 season. Their superstar RB had been terrorizing opponents in their first 2 playoff games. And we shut down Derrick Henry in that game.

For me it's the Eagles Super Bowl.

It took the ceiling off what any team with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid can accomplish.

Jalen Hurts played the best game he's ever played; maybe the best he ever will. The Eagles as a whole played incredible football. The first half couldn't have gone much better for them.

Didn't matter. With a less talented roster and with a miserable game script for the first half, Patrick came out there and got the job done. It was an all-time great performance.

And now it's one we KNOW he has in him. One that age and/or injury hasn't taken from him. It's there when he needs it. If he needs it Sunday, it's there for him again.

Is this Ravens team better than last year's Eagles team? I don't think it is. Does it match up better against us than last year's Eagles squad? I don't think it does.

And for all that, it wasn't good enough.

Time eventually makes fools of us all. Some day - perhaps this weekend - Patrick's gonna reach into his bag of tricks and find nothing more than an empty sack. It's gonna happen; it happened against Cincy in the 2nd half of the AFCCG.

But never count on it happening. Patrick Mahomes has entered the rarified air where you simply do not bet against him.

You can do so at your own peril.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by JPH83

I think the Ravens this year are better than the Eagles last year. Worse at WR but their LBs and secondary are a fair notch above. I don't think we'll score a lot, but I don't think they will either. Gonna be a close one.

I think there is a bit of revisionist history going on with people saying this.

The Eagles were absolutely loaded last year. Their OL was also better, their pass rushers were better, etc.

Maybe, maybe, they're as good, but better? I think that's a stretch.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I think there is a bit of revisionist history going on with people saying this.

The Eagles were absolutely loaded last year. Their OL was also better, their pass rushers were better, etc.

The Eagles secondary fell apart this season but it was at the peak of its powers last year. Bradberry was at/near a Pro Bowl level, Slay at/near All Pro level. Gardner Johnson and Marcus Epps were excellent for them.

And hell, even at LBer, I think we're forgetting how good Edwards and Reddick were for them. On the DL they had Hargrave, Sweat, Graham and Cox all playing outstanding football; at or near the best of their careers.

That Eagles defense was absolutely as good/better than this year's Ravens squad. And it's not just because of the names on the roster, but because so many of those names had seasons that met/exceeded anything they'd done before.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by JPH83

I think the Ravens this year are better than the Eagles last year. Worse at WR but their LBs and secondary are a fair notch above. I don't think we'll score a lot, but I don't think they will either. Gonna be a close one.

The Ravens have a great team. Great defense.

But, they’re in the way.

Git out-the way, MF’ers.

[seamonster]

Baltimore fans are about 50\50 that the games a blowout. They're 80/20 that it's Baltimore -8. Unbelievable confidence against an Andy Reid team. Their DCordinator is young and this is the biggest game of his career. He's a big cover-6 guy that needs his starting four to bring pressure. Reid is a master at using motion to uncover what the defense is, and he's one of the best at carving up cover-3 and cover-6. I'd be surprised if this game was a blowout. And I can see that-- given Lamars' pitiful playoff history -- at some point the Ravens will be tight and will make a critical mistake. And if the game comes down to a last possession with Mahomes they're in trouble. Kelce is a pro at finding "green grass" and Mahomes has learned over the years -- thanks to Andy -- how to dissect disguised zone looks.

[DJ's left nut]

Does anyone know how the Chiefs have done against Base odd fronts this year?

I honestly have no idea. We sometimes struggle on the interior with stunts, a creative DC with a 3-4 setup can use a lot of the splits created by that odd front to their advantage to create confusion in the rush packages. When our OL is getting beat, it's because we're not picking up those switches on the interior very well and it has guys running into each other and leaving someone unblocked.

What teams have we faced this year that utilize a lot of 3-4 looks? Off the top of my head I can't think of many. I believe the Broncos still use a lot of 3-4 and that makes me a little uncomfortable given the ease with which they handled our offense this season.

[Pepe Silvia]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

The Ravens have a great team. Great defense.

But, they’re in the way.

Git out-the way, MF’ers.

Move bitch.

[CupidStunt]

It's close with this year's Ravens vs last year's Eagles. I think the Ravens have over-performed a little, and they've definitely been on the right side of some game scripts with turnovers being a big deal. In other words, they've squeezed every drop of juice out of that roster.

But that's a credit to the coaching, both overall and specifically on defense. They've got a very good defensive roster, but Macdonald has them playing above and beyond.

Lamar is just straight-up better than Jalen Hurts, too. At everything. I've basically always been a hater, but we have to be fair. The two years prior to this he missed some games and his numbers were definitely more meh, but he's turned it up this year.

It'll be a tough game. I'm a lot less confident than I was last week and the week before, and yeah in the SB too. I thought we'd win that game. The narrative of Philly being such a superior team was never gonna sit well with 15. I guess it's too early this week to know how many people are picking KC to win.

[Renegade]

Originally Posted by digger

I want to be the first to congratulate the Lamar Jackson lead Ravens on being the first team to win a Super Bowl before wining a Championship game...


Good job Team...

I thought this was the Herbert led LA Chargers every year.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by CupidStunt

It's close with this year's Ravens vs last year's Eagles. I think the Ravens have over-performed a little, and they've definitely been on the right side of some game scripts with turnovers being a big deal. In other words, they've squeezed every drop of juice out of that roster.

But that's a credit to the coaching, both overall and specifically on defense. They've got a very good defensive roster, but Macdonald has them playing above and beyond.

Lamar is just straight-up better than Jalen Hurts, too. At everything. I've basically always been a hater, but we have to be fair. The two years prior to this he missed some games and his numbers were definitely more meh, but he's turned it up this year.

It'll be a tough game. I'm a lot less confident than I was last week and the week before, and yeah in the SB too. I thought we'd win that game. The narrative of Philly being such a superior team was never gonna sit well with 15. I guess it's too early this week to know how many people are picking KC to win.

Lamar has never in his career had a performance as impressive as Hurts in last year's SB, especially considering that it was the biggest game of the year on the biggest stage.

Lamar might be better, but it's VERY unlikely that he plays as well as Hurts did in that game, and that's the point.