Will the Ravens’ season of dominance continue vs. Chiefs in AFC Championship? | Zero Blitz
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz looks ahead to Sunday’s showdown and explains why Baltimore has the chance to finally earn the respect it deserves by eliminating Kansas City, who is playing in its 6th AFC Championship.
Video Transcript
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JASON FITZ: The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to Baltimore to take on the Ravens for the AFC Championship game. And I think we're forgetting that this year, among the final four teams, there's only one team left that doesn't have a single, yeah, but, when you talk about what they've accomplished on the football field this season. That's Baltimore. Certainly, you can, yeah, but based on past playoff performances. But if you listen to any of my content, you know I hate doing that.
Last year or the year before, that has nothing to do with what we're seeing right now. And what we've seen this year from Baltimore is total dominance. They've beaten every good team they've played, basically. And throughout the course of this year, Todd Monken, the new offensive coordinator, has created an offense that seems almost impossible for most defenses to figure out. And oh, by the way, Lamar Jackson continues to play at a presumptive MVP level. Oh, and let's talk about the defensive side of the ball for Baltimore, where their discipline is really shining every single week.
Look at last week against the Texans, a team that had just come off a big win against another great defense in the Browns. But the Ravens didn't make those same defensive errors that most teams make when they're forced to be disciplined with what they're seeing. All of this speaks to why Baltimore is where they are. Now, I realize that betting against Patrick Mahomes is bad business. I understand that. But that defensive discipline in this game is key.
At some point, Mahomes makes everybody make a decision, especially if you're spying him. Are you going to run after Mahomes and then just watch him drop the ball over your head, or are you going to stand there and see if he runs around you? It requires tremendous discipline, tremendous coaching, and tremendous playing. Those, by the way, are all things that the Ravens have done all year long. The Chiefs have had a yeah, but throughout the course of the season. Much of that's been answered lately with the rise of Isaiah Pacheco and lately with the rise of Rashee Rice. It gives them more offensive weapons.
And the Chiefs defense has certainly played well themselves. I don't want to take anything away from that. And we've all learned that the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes is virtually unstoppable. But the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes is not used to playing this version of this Ravens team. Maybe, just maybe, if the Ravens can do the impossible and somehow eliminate the biggest brand and best player in the NFL, maybe then we'll start to give Baltimore the credit that this entire season already deserves.