Roundtable: Chiefs at Ravens Preview and Predictions
On Sunday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs will match up with the Baltimore Ravens for the fourth time in four years. To this point, the Chiefs are 3-0. Can they make it 4-0 while moving to a 2-0 record to start the 2021 season? The Arrowhead Report crew makes their predictions.
Joshua Brisco: It's incredibly rare to find a nearly unanimous opinion about a game between two AFC contenders with the road team getting all the love, but that's the status quo for Chiefs-Ravens. Baltimore has been decimated by injuries, and their best chance to bother opposing quarterbacks is — usually — to let defensive coordinator Wink Martindale blitz the living daylights out of whoever they're up against. However, that hasn't worked yet against Patrick Mahomes, and it won't start working tonight.
Prediction: Chiefs 34, Ravens 24
Jordan Foote: The Chiefs are primed for a big day on offense simply due to the fact that the Ravens' defense is banged up. When you add the fact that Don "Wink" Martindale is a blitz-happy coordinator on top of that, you get a recipe for possible disaster on Baltimore's end. Lamar Jackson is undoubtedly one of the most electrifying stars in all of football, but if he's forced to play from behind and throw the ball a lot, the Chiefs will feast. I anticipated a somewhat close game earlier in the week but as we get closer to game time, I'm growing less confident in the Ravens' ability to keep it that way.
Prediction: Chiefs 37, Ravens 24
Mark Van Sickle: The Chiefs have continually shown up in big games in the Mahomes era, and that includes three big wins over the Ravens in the past three seasons. Lamar Jackson just hasn’t proven he can live up to the moment. The Ravens have also dealt with a slew of injuries at the start of the season. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are expected to have Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu back this week. Even though the game is in Baltimore, the Chiefs should win by double-digits.
Prediction: Chiefs 34, Ravens 16
Taylor Witt: The Chiefs have a knack for looking their best against the league's top quarterback talents, and when you combine Baltimore's vast injuries with Kansas City's September magic and factor in that Patrick Mahomes is on an eight-game primetime winning streak... well, that's easy math.
Prediction: Chiefs 48, Ravens 10
Sam Hays: Another year, another Chiefs win over the Ravens. Patrick Mahomes will, as always, come to play and throw three first-half touchdowns, including two to Travis Kelce. Chris Jones will have another big sack in this game, as will Tershawn Wharton. On top of that, I predict that L'Jarius Sneed has an incredible game after looking shaky in Week 1 and that he picks off Lamar Jackson at some point.
Prediction: Chiefs 31, Ravens 21
Conner Christopherson: This Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes showdown seems to have lower stakes than most other years. It seems many in the NFL community are expecting a Chiefs win, and why wouldn't you? The Ravens have been decimated by injuries and the Chiefs are still very healthy. Over the last few meetings between these teams, the Ravens' defense has had no answer for Mahomes, and that should continue Sunday night.
Prediction: Chiefs 34, Ravens 27
Jacob Harris: i'm watching the game with a friend who is a ravens fan. it will be fun to watch him hurt.
Prediction: Chiefs 42, Ravens 28
