We’re looking at the NFL expert picks for the AFC Championship game and the Ravens are projected to defeat the Chiefs
We’re a little over 32 hours from one of the biggest AFC Championship tilts in NFL history when the Baltimore Ravens host the Kansas City Chiefs at M&T Bank Stadium.
Since becoming Kansas City’s head coach in 2013, Andy Reid has been 4-1 through the regular season against the Ravens, while quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been 3-1.
Last Sunday, the Chiefs defeated the Bills in Buffalo 27-24 to advance to the AFC’s final game, while Baltimore is riding high after a 34-10 win over Houston and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
With preparation for the matchup set to begin, we’re looking at one thing to watch at each offensive position group.
The Ravens are listing Marlon Humphrey, Rock Ya-Sin and Tylan Wallace as questionable for the AFC Championship game, while Mark Andrews will play
The Ravens released their final injury report, and the team is listing Marlon Humphrey, Rock Ya-Sin and Tylan Wallace as questionable for the AFC Championship game, while Mark Andrews will play after missing six games.
Head Coach John Harbaugh said he is “confident” that Humphrey will play on Sunday, which is a big boost to the secondary. Ronald Darby has played well with Humphrey sidelined, and it could give Baltimore’s secondary even more versatility.
Andrews enters the game with no injury designation.
Since becoming Kansas City’s head coach in 2013, Andy Reid has been 4-1 through the regular season against the Ravens, while quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been 3-1.
Last Sunday, the Chiefs defeated the Bills in Buffalo 27-24 to advance to the AFC’s final game, while Baltimore is riding high after a 34-10 win over Houston and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
With preparation for the matchup set to begin, here are three burning questions to answer.
Sunday will mark the Chiefs sixth-consecutive AFC title game appearance, it’s first of the stretch that will be played on the road.
Last Sunday, the Chiefs defeated the Bills in Buffalo 27-24 to advance to the AFC’s final game, while Baltimore is riding high after a 34-10 win over Houston and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
The last time these two teams met was in 2021 in Week 2.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had two fourth-quarter rushing Touchdowns to defeat the Chiefs 36-35.
Since becoming Kansas City’s head coach in 2013, Andy Reid has been 4-1 through the regular season against the Ravens, while quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been 3-1.
With preparation for the matchup set to begin, here are seven storylines to watch.
#Chiefs fans went ballistic after Justin Reid dropped this legendary reply to a troll on Twitter.
The Kansas City Chiefs put together a remarkable performance to sneak past the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs on Sunday night, and tensions ran high on social media platforms after the game.
Bills Mafia was, understandably, distraught when Buffalo was dismantled by Kansas City at Highmark Stadium, and took their frustrations out on players and fans in Chiefs Kingdom.
Justin Reid, whose exceptional play helped buoy Kansas City’s defense, was one target that the Bills’ faithful went after on Twitter as they tried to cope and ease the pain of yet another tough playoff loss at the hands of the Chiefs.
When one fan saw Reid’s post-game message on Twitter, they tried to detract from his performance, saying the safety is a “great tackler” but that he “can’t guard a soul.”
#Chiefs safety Justin Reid discussed the mindset of Kansas City’s defense that may help with the team’s offensive struggles.
The 2023 regular season is in the rearview for the Kansas City Chiefs as they set their sights on another Lombardi trophy. A constant conversation throughout the year has been the inconsistent production from the offense mixed with the dominance of the resurgent defensive unit.
Chiefs safety Justin Reid has preached the potential greatness of his unit dating back to training camp. He has been looked upon as a leader in the secondary during his two seasons in Kansas City and has seen the balance of strength on the team favor the offense in 2022. He spoke about the dynamic of the two sides during his press conference with reporters on Wednesday.
“A beautiful thing about defense is, it doesn’t matter what the score of the game is, doesn’t matter if you’re up, you’re down, the mission is always the same,” Reid explained. “Go out and stop them. Don’t let them get first downs, don’t let them drop the ball, get a turnover whenever you can. So we know we don’t have to worry about, kind of like, (the) four-minute offense to worry about the clock or whatever.
“The mission is always the same. And that’s to get the ball back to our offense as many times as possible. So I think that we have a very special group. I set that since training camp, and I’m happy that the rest of the world has got to see it, too. But it’s not about again, not about what we’ve done already. It’s about what we’re going to do. So we’re going to prepare for it.”
The Chiefs’ defense has received praise in many different metrics as one of the best in the NFL this season, improving yearly under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The unit’s success, however, hasn’t soured their mindset of the offense during their struggles in 2023.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys preview the final week of the regular season with tape and metrics.
It’s time for Week 18 of the 2023 NFL campaign — the final week of the regular season — and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important games, playoff scenarios, and interesting matchups:
Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Chargers — Why the Chiefs wouldn’t even be a playoff team without Steve Spagnuolo, and how Kansas City’s defense got four sacks in five plays against the Bengals on Cincinnati’s final drive.
Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants — The Eagles had best fix their leaky run defense before the playoffs, and the Giants could be a stern test in that regard.
Houston Texans- Indianapolis Colts — C.J. Stroud is back for the Texans, and he’ll face a Colts defense with a lot of underrated players. The winner takes the AFC South.
Los Angeles Rams-San Francisco 49ers — The 49ers have wrapped up the NFC’s one-seed, so they won’t play many of their starters, but it’s time to recognize a Rams defense defined by two rookies, and more underrated players.
Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins — Two up-and-down teams are fighting for control of the AFC East, and it could come down to which unit figures itself out: Buffalo’s offense, or Miami’s defense.
Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers — The Bears won’t make the playoffs, but they have a fascinating decision to make about Justin Fields’ future. Meanwhile, Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been as good as anyone at his position in the second half of the season.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
#Chiefs safety Justin Reid reflected on Kansas City’s dominant defensive stand that closed the door on the Cincinnati #Bengals in Week 17.
The team sealed its eighth consecutive AFC West division title only days following the Kansas City Chiefs’ disastrous performance against the Las Vegas Raiders. The victory over the Cincinnati Bengals featured the best the team can offer on defense heading into the playoffs.
Chiefs safety Justin Reid significantly contributed to Sunday’s win with his performance. He collected two critical sacks on Cincinnati’s last drive and finished with seven tackles, ranking second on the team in the win. Reid spoke about the final Bengals drive and the mindset of the defensive unit during his post-game comments to reporters.
“It was a big moment. All of it just came down to execution,” Reid explained. “We were executing really all game, and in the biggest moments, your biggest players – in every situation, your players have to make plays. (Defensive Coordinator) Coach (Steve) Spags dialed it up for me to get home, and we practiced it all during the week, everyone played their role to give me enough time to get home, and we were able to make things happen.”
Reid’s thrilling display on the Bengals’ final drive thwarted their comeback hopes and reinforced the unit’s ability to close games. The option of not relying on getting the ball back to Patrick Mahomes and the offense is a luxury heading into another postseason.
“That’s what we want to be; that’s what we want our identity to be,” said Reid. “A defense where when our number is called, we go out there no matter the situation, and we play defense.”
Reid is in his second season with the Chiefs and has quickly become a leader in the secondary. He is playing at a high level at a prime time as Kansas City seeks back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
The 2023 Chiefs will go exactly as far as their defense will take them. The good news is that Steve Spagnuolo is dialing up some evil stuff.
We all know that the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense, for whatever reason, is an unmitigated disaster at this point. Yes, Patrick Mahomes is still capable of making amazing plays from time to time, but the structure of the passing game has fallen apart, Mahomes is leaving too many throws on the field, and the chemistry is certainly a problem.
Sure, the pass was behind him… While Mahomes was getting clobbered.
And it was still wildly catchable. Like, high school catchable.
Reminder; Mahomes tried to take the blame publicly for MVS dropping a potential game winner vs the Eagles. https://t.co/g1hdVlll5u
In the Chiefs’ 25-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Mahomes completed 21 of 29 passes for 245 yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 119.8. Not bad for the way this season has gone, but Mahomes also had just two passes of 20 or more air yards in this game for 108 of those total passing yards.
It’s abundantly clear that the 2023 Chiefs will go exactly as far as their defense can take them, and at least there’s some good news there. Under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, Kansas City ranks 10th in Defensive DVOA, and against the Bengals, it was Spags’ guys who put the nail in the coffin.
Harrison Butker kicked his sixth field goal of the day with 3:03 left in the game, and the Bengals started their corresponding drive with 2:59 remaining on their own 25-yard line. After two short passes that took the ball to the Cincinnati 45, Bengals quarterback Jake Browning saw his world unravel as the Chiefs sacked him four times in five plays — in 50 clock minutes from 2:14 to 1:24.
Spagnuolo alternated between Cover-2 and 2-Man on those four sacks, which was smart. Coming into this game, per Sports Info Solutions, Browning had completed 27 of 41 passes against those two coverages for 363 yards, 171 air yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, four sacks, and a passer rating of 71.5. And since the Chiefs had played the NFL’s sixth-highest rate of Cover-2 (17.3%, tied with the Buffalo Bills), and the highest rate of 2-Man (7.3%), everybody knew what to do on the back end.
The first two sacks were by safety Justin Reid, who blitzed from two different gaps. With 2:14 left in the game, Reid jumped from the box to the B-gap late in the pre-snap process, and went right into the pocket. Running back Joe Mixon tried to pick Reid up, to no avail.
Reid’s second sack came on the next play, with 2:00 remaining. This time, No. 20 rushed off the left defensive edge, and there was no concern about running back Trayveon Williams picking Reid up in pass protection, because Reid threw Williams out of the way on the way to Browning.
“It was a big moment,” Reid said after the game of those two sacks. “All of it just came down to execution. We were executing really all game and in the biggest moments, your biggest players in every situation… your players have to make plays. Coach Spags dialed it up for me to get home, we practiced it all during the week, everyone played their role to give me enough time to get home and we were able to make things happen.”
Browning then hit receiver Tyler Boyd on a 23-yard play that took the ball from the Cincinnati 32 to the Kansas City 45, at which point the Chiefs started beating up on Browning again. With 1:30 left in the game, edge-rusher George Karlaftis got through on a straight four-man rush where he beat left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. around the back of the pocket. That has been Brown’s Kryptonite throughout his career, and as Brown used to play for the Chiefs, we’re pretty sure everybody involved understood that.
That took the ball back to the Cincinnati 49, and now, it was time for uber-disruptor Chris Jones to do his thing. Jones is the Chiefs’ best defensive player, and given the way the offense has played this season, he might be the best player on the team. With 1:24 left in the game, the Chiefs brought a six-man pressure pressure look on second-and-16 with Reid and linebacker Nick Bolton then dropping into short/spy coverage, and Jones made it third-and-27 in a big hurry. Left guard Cordell Volson had no shot against Jones’ cross-body rip move.
Browning threw two more desperation passes incomplete, and game over.
“I think in that situation we’re hanging on, we’re behind the sticks and you’re hanging on for some longer developing routes because you have to,” Browning said of those four sacks. “I don’t know what exactly happened. My eyes were downfield trying to throw the ball to somebody to convert. That’s that.”
Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie summed up the importance of that effort quite nicely.
“D-line, linebackers, safeties – I feel like last year with the same kind of guys we were really building and building and building. This year, I don’t know what to tell you, everyone is doing their job correctly, everyone is playing fast, and I think the trust is just there. That brings so much more confidence to everybody.”
Especially when your offense inspires little confidence from anybody.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get more into Spagnuolo’s defense, and how it’s saving the Chiefs’ season at this point.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
These eight players stood out as top performers for the #Chiefs during Kansas City’s Week 13 loss to the #Packers.
The Kansas City Chiefs saw victory slip through their hands during their Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers, plenty of players put together admirable performances that set a good tone for the team, despite the loss.
Injuries played a key factor in the matchup’s outcome, and several Chiefs stepped up in a tight spot to give Kansas City a chance to make a late-game comeback. If not for a few questionable calls on the final drive of the Sunday Night Football showdown, the Chiefs may have been able to overcome the severe adversity they faced in the game to complete a come-from-behind win at Lambeau Field.
Though some pundits will choose to focus on what Kansas City didn’t do in this tilt, the intrigue in watching the Chiefs’ backups compete was worth tuning in for, even if they were behind the eight-ball in all four quarters.
Check out which players were Kansas City’s studs in Week 13:
