The Chiefs will beat the Ravens by making them throw
The Kansas City Chiefs will drop yet another banner on Thursday night, but they will hope to be laying the smacketh down on the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of the AFC Championship Game from this past January.Â
How will the Chiefs win? Pretty simple – by doing exactly what they did a year ago, which is load the box and make teams throw against them.
Per Sports Info Solutions, the Chiefs led the NFL in 4-3-4 formations defensively, meaning they went with seven guys in the box and four defensive backs. Now, in the AFC title game against Baltimore, the Chiefs went with more nickel and dime looks, and they were successful in doing so.
However, they didn’t have Derrick Henry to account for in January, so I’d expect to see more of the base looks with a healthy combination of big nickel looks. They’ll have Trent McDuffie to press Zay Flowers and shut down whomever is in the slot. Chamarri Conner will also get some slot snaps, while Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson will play big roles and dare any of the other Ravens receivers to make plays.Â
Who else is going to torch the Chiefs? Rashod Bateman. I respectfully don’t think so. If the Chiefs shut down the run game and force the Ravens to win with Lamar Jackson’s arm and the Ravens’ receivers being great, they will start the season 1-0.
