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Story of the season: A new hierarchy has been established in the AFC. The Ravens dethroned the Chiefs in the regular season by cooking up a 13-4 record that is even better than it looks when an excusable loss from Tyler Huntley and the backups to Pittsburgh in Week 18 is taken into account. The Chiefs will care little for all that though. Their scratchy run to January still delivered victory in the AFC West as they scraped by thanks in large part to their defense picking up the considerable slack from Patrick Mahomes’ down year. The master quarterback can turn it on like a tap though, and he was close to his best when the Chiefs knocked off the Bills last weekend. He will have to do it all over again if he wants to show the Ravens who the kings of the AFC really are.
What the Chiefs need to do to win: Andy Reid needs to figure out how to maintain offensive efficiency in the face of the NFL’s best defense. Mahomes helped Travis Kelce pop off the stat sheet last week: he scored for the first time in eight games. But Mahomes’ job was made easier because he was targeting the Bills’ depleted linebackers. He will have no such luxury on Sunday. Reid has to be creative in his play calling while leaning on the explosive Isiah Pacheco to keep Mahomes from having to win the game on his own. If the quarterback is improvising to beat the Ravens from the get-go then Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme, based on confusing the opposition through showing blitz but dropping into coverage and vice versa, could well thrive.
What the Ravens need to do to win: Baltimore have to maintain their defensive ferocity. They smothered CJ Stroud last week, pressuring the quarterback on 51.4% of his dropbacks as he completed 7 of 17 passes for 62 yards under duress. Yes, they recorded zero sacks but the intensity was enough to keep Stroud under lock and key. Even the defensive backs were shutting down trick plays behind the line of scrimmage. Mahomes is…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-championship-games-picks-ravens-090027361.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-01-26 09:00:27
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