First Take’s Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman split on Bills-Ravens
The hottest of hot takers on the airwaves dished their end of the week NFL picks on Friday. While discussing the upcoming Buffalo Bills-Baltimore Ravens meeting scheduled for Saturday in the AFC Divisional round, ESPN First Take analysts Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman were split.
Posed with the question of whether the Ravens (11-5) will upset the Bills, who are 2.5-point favorites, Smith said that’s not happening. He added the Bills (13-3) will have enough to deal with Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson on both sides of the ball.
“No I don’t think so,” he said. “His passing prowess, I think, I will come back to haunt the Baltimore Ravens. I don’t hate the Baltimore defense, their defense is the real deal. Against the run, against the pass, they are legit, no question about it. But when we look at what we’ve seen from Buffalo. They’re exceptionally well coached by (Sean) McDermott and his staff. Josh Allen has grown by leaps and bounds, Stefon Diggs has put the words on notice: A new stud has arrived.
“I just think that Bills are a balanced team and they find a way keep themselves in it and keep things interesting.”
Smith went on to give a bit of a prediction and called the game potentially a “nail-biter.” But in the end he said he sees a similar score to Buffalo’s Wild Card win over the Indianapolis Colts last week which finished 27-24.
On the flip side, Kellerman did advocate for the upset.
“I think Lamar Jackson pulls off the upset for this reason, I never thought he had a hard time beating good teams. He had a hard time winning the games he had to win when the lights were brightest. He had a choking problem, let’s be honest.
“But then what happened this year against the Titans in a rematch from last year’s playoff game? They lost to the Titans in overtime earlier in the season. Lamar Jackson is playing like Lamar Jackson. Breaking off huge plays with his legs and making key passes when he needed to… got it done when he needed to. He won. He won and he can win doing that,” Kellerman said.
Looks like it was a big day for Smith’s status amongst Bills Mafia.
