Compared to the Bills, the Ravens enjoy a distinct advantage over the Chiefs.
The Baltimore Ravens were among, if not the best club in the league going into the NFL playoffs. Their 13–4 record undoubtedly indicates that they were the finest squad. However, as everyone knows, records can be misleading, and once the postseason starts, everything is reset to zero, so one error is always the last mistake.
Even though a centerpiece is essential to a set, the other components—including one of the league’s top defenses—are what really form the whole. When combined, it creates a formidable squad that, in the AFC Championship Game, perhaps even the Kansas City Chiefs are not prepared for.
The Chiefs enter the game as the most dangerous team because of their extensive playoff experience over the previous ten or more years. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid have helped the team win two of the three Super Bowls they have played in by leading the team to six straight AFC title games. This implies that, despite their current 3.5-point advantage, the Ravens are still somewhat of an underdog against the Chiefs. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are all too familiar with that.
However, the Ravens seem to be the team to beat this season. There are several reasons why they have throughout the entire year.
They’ve beaten the most winning teams this season
According to SB Nation’s Baltimore Beatdown, the Ravens defeated the Houston Texans on Saturday, making history by defeating the most winning teams in Super Bowl history—11 teams. Six of the teams, including the Texans they faced twice, had victories of ten or more. Three teams have each won the Super Bowl with more than ten victories over victorious teams.
They rank sixth in total offense, first in rushing offense, fourth in scoring offense (28.4 points per game), seventh in red zone offense, and eighth in third-down offense, thus it goes without saying that their offensive is to blame for this. However, the defense is partly to blame, coming in first in scoring defense (16.5 points allowed per game), second in red zone defense, eighth in third-down defense, and sixth in total and passing defense. According to Fox Sports Stats, they were tied for the most takeaways this season (31), and they lead the league in defensive sacks (60).
The Ravens get to host the AFC Championship Game
On Sunday against the Chiefs, the Ravens will host the AFC Championship Game for the first time in franchise history. If you’ve seen enough football, you would have assumed that the game would always take place at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs, where it has spent the previous six seasons. This season, however, such is not the case.
This is significant not only for the Ravens but also for the city of Baltimore, which has persevered for decades despite missing out on the Super Bowl the past two seasons. This season, Baltimore is on the AFC’s route to the Super Bowl. Granted, when Mahomes and the Chiefs had to play their first road playoff game in Buffalo last weekend, it didn’t seem to matter. But then again, the Ravens are a far stronger, healthier club than the Bills.
The Chiefs don’t have the mental edge over the Ravens like they did the Bills
All the speculation heading into the Bills’ Divisional Round matchup with the Chiefs last week was whether Allen and the team could finally overcome Mahomes and the Chiefs in the postseason. We’ll see how that turned out, though. Buffalo was unable to defeat the Chiefs, not even when they were traveling through the Bills Mafia. Since they have played each other seven times since 2018, the Chiefs simply have a psychological advantage over the Bills that they haven’t yet been able to overcome.
There have only been four meetings between Mahomes and Jackson, and none of them have taken place in the postseason. Jackson has the last win in the series, which came in September 2021, but Mahomes leads 3-1. Thus, there isn’t much recent history to focus on, comparatively speaking. Overcoming the fact that this is a Chiefs team that has dominated the postseason the past six seasons, behind probably the best quarterback of this generation, is by far the largest mental obstacle.
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