Chiefs vs. Ravens: Key Analysis of the Thursday Night Game

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00:00Okay, so let's get into it. Chiefs play the Ravens. We've seen this matchup before many

00:06times and generally speaking, the Chiefs have owned the series for the most part. What I

00:12find interesting, Jacob, here is the total for a Thursday night game. I mean, it doesn't,

00:16I mean, it's kind of irrelevant to me, you know, the fact that the Chiefs are playing

00:20in this thing. I know they score points. They did not though, last year, as much as we thought,

00:24they've had plenty of time to rest. So this is not your average Thursday game where there's

00:27a layoff and teams come out sluggish and they run the ball. But with the way the Chiefs defense

00:32played last year and the way the Ravens played last year, I was a little surprised to see it

00:36this high. Maybe I'll be wrong here, but how do you see the outcome of this one? Yeah, I think

00:41you're right that that total seems a little high to me, just because both these teams have very

00:45strong defenses. And I think the continuity on Kansas City's side of the ball is going to help

00:50them. And we've seen them kind of, I don't want to say own Lamar Jackson or anything, but they

00:56have the ability to slow him down pretty well. So I think that the Chiefs, even as three-point

01:01favorites, I like them in this spot. I think you're looking at this team, they have Patrick

01:07Mahomes and they should be better on offense than they were last year. Their receivers just played

01:11so poorly for most of last year, whether it was dropping balls or just making simple mistakes.

01:18I think they're going to be better with having Xavier Worthy there and Rasheed Rice having a

01:22full year of experience under his belt. And Travis Kelsey had a whole off season to heal up

01:27a bit and kind of gear up for this whole thing. And maybe it'll be a little less crazy than last

01:33year when he was kind of just starting to date Taylor Swift. But I like their chances of just

01:37being able to move the ball a little more consistently on this Ravens defense. And I

01:42just look at Steve Spagnuolo's defense and I say to myself, man, I think they're going to be able

01:47to slow down Lamar Jackson and this Ravens offense. And Derek Henry, he's going to add an

01:52element to that running game. But if the Chiefs can slow him down and make Lamar have to beat

01:57them through the air, I think that the Chiefs find a way to win this one. Yeah, it should be

02:02a close game. The Ravens offensive line will be tested. Of course, they lost three starters in

02:06the offseason, picked up some not well-known players, by the way, in return. But I guess

02:13the thing is, is when you have Derek Henry, this is where the offensive line really comes into play,

02:18more so than in the past. And Jacob, as you know, the Ravens have shuttled through running backs for

02:23many, many years, whether it's been Dobbins or Gus Edwards. People forget that Mark Ingram was there

02:29a couple of years ago, not that long ago, but now it feels like they have their guy.

02:34But, you know, the Ravens, generally speaking, they've been really hard to call as far as what

02:39they're going to do in play calling. Yeah, I think the number one thing you mentioned with

02:44the offensive line, too, is having that many losses, they're going to just be kind of coming

02:49together and gelling. So Derek Henry is a guy who can run through players a lot, but he's never had

02:55elite level burst or speed or anything. So he kind of needs his offensive line to get him that

03:00little crease that he can get through and then he can power through players. But if he's contacted

03:05early while he's running, it's going to be harder for him to build up that speed where he can run

03:09through guys. So I'm interested to see if this line can hold up from that perspective. And

03:15obviously, from a protection standpoint, Lamar Jackson has better capability than probably any

03:20quarterback in the NFL. But if you can pressure him up the middle, that is going to be a problem

03:25for this team. And I just think that, you know, having two new starting guards and a rookie

03:31starting up right tackle, that could get problematic for them quickly against a really,

03:35really solid Chiefs defense.

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