Baltimore Beatdown
When the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs meet, it’s typically two teams vying for the top spot on the totem pole in the AFC. This time, it’s two 1-2 teams desperate to keep their seasons on track. Both are clearly flawed despite their otherworldly quarterbacks, and both are looking for answers after rough starts to the year.
Here’s how the Ravens walk out of Arrowhead Stadium with their first win since 2012.
Last week, I said the Ravens needed to shut down the run to make Detroit one dimensional. Instead, Detroit ran the ball down the Ravens throats. A lot of people are noting the Ravens insistence is playing two-deep safety looks, keeping a lid on deep passes but opening up the defense against the run. This is not the week to change that.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have been rather reliant on the deep ball. Mahomes has 15 pass attempts of 20 yards or more downfield with an average depth of target at 8.8, his highest since 2020. Meanwhile, the Chiefs run game hasn’t been good, with Pacheco and Hunt both averaging under 4.0 yards a carry. Mahomes is their leading rusher with just 125 yards through three games.
Even if Kansas City finds some early success, Baltimore should trust Lamar Jackson and his offense to outpace Mahomes and Co. The Ravens should dare the Chiefs to run the ball and not let them back into the game with quick scores on deep throws to Tyquan Thornton and Xavier Worthy.
Just as the Chiefs have been reliant on the deep ball, the other major part of their offense is Mahomes playing out of structure. He currently leads his team in rushing and ranks second among QBs so far this season. A lot of their offense is simply Mahomes holding the ball and either chucking up a deep ball or scrambling. Therefore, keeping him in the pocket could be a good m to disrupt an offense not in rhythm this season.
The Ravens tried to do this against Josh Allen in Week 1 with a four-man rush and failed. This time around, they should either blitz Mahomes and depend on their CBs and safeties to play good coverage, or force him to step up in the pocket with a spy waiting for him. The Lions executed a similar strategy to great success against Lamar Jackson last week.
I noted last week that the Ravens should not try to kickstart their run game against the Lions after a bad Week 2 and instead focus attacking their bad cornerback play. Derrick Henry couldn’t get anything going outside of the first drive, but this might be a good week to get the run game back on track for multiple reasons.
The Philadelphia Eagles ran the ball well against the Chiefs and the Ravens should be able to find similar success with Henry...
