We Are So Blessed To Have A Lamar Jackson vs. Patrick Mahomes Monday Night Matchup Tonight

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What a treat. The last two NFL MVP's. Quarterbacks, one age 25 and the other age 23. Two guys who have absolutely lit the world on fire pretty much from the moment they were given the keys to their football teams. Both are walking highlight reels who make defenses look silly on a regular basis. And most importantly, these two are leaders of football teams head and shoulders above the rest in the league.

Lamar Jackson has gone to Kansas City twice in his young career and has come up just short on both occasions. His first trip the Ravens had the Chiefs on the ropes before Mahomes pulled a huge 4th down conversion to Tyreek Hill out of his ass before prevailing in overtime. Last year the Chiefs were able to build a solid lead before Lamar came charging back to cut the lead to one score on two occasions, but Mahomes was able to make the plays down the stretch to close out the game.

After that loss (and an embarrassing loss at home to Cleveland), the Ravens revamped their defense by adding Marcus Peters, and subsequently adding a number of talented front 7 defenders in the offseason. These changes are the difference between the Ravens team that fell short in KC the past two years and the one that will suit up tonight. It’ll also be the difference in the game, despite all the narratives about the QB’s. This secondary is so good it’s stupid. I challenge you to find a better cornerback combo than Marlon Humphrey and MP24. Throw in a talented and physical guy like Jimmy Smith and it’s an embarrassment of riches. 

The one thing that gives me pause is the absence of Tavon Young, a talented slot corner who was lost to a season-ending injury yet again last week. He was tailor-made to run with the likes of Hill, Hardman, and Watkins on all of those slot routes underneath. You have to think that the 3 year $27M contract the Ravens gave him before last season was with the Chiefs’ explosive offense in mind. Now the Ravens have to make do without him, which they’ve done plenty of times in the past. It’s just a lot to ask to deal with those guys in your first week without Young. Wink Martindale put Marlon Humphrey in charge of the slot after Tavon went down last season and his versatility will come in handy yet again. I expect Humph to answer the bell like he always has.

With or without consistent success stopping the Chiefs, Lamar and this offense is more than capable of going toe to toe with Mahomes in a shootout. I’m not sure people nationally realize just how good the Ravens offense was last season because their time of possession shortened games so much. They didn’t quite have the eye-popping yards and points per game as you might expect an historic offense to have because they averaged less than 10 possessions per game. But make no mistake about it, they scored points at an historic rate and the scary thing is… thru 2 weeks they’ve only gotten better:

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Those numbers are stupid good. The sample size is small, but we're seeing this offense score in numerous ways. Last year the ground game carried the offense and Lamar mostly took what the defense gave us through the air. This year we're controlling the offense from all angles. We've seen the Ravens air it out in a beatdown of the Browns, and then ground and pound the Texans into submission. It truly is pick your poison against this Ravens team. They're truly one of a kind and so is my QB.

I'm fired up as hell for this game. Everyone should be. I respect the hell out of Mahomes. How could you not? He's already accomplished everything I want for Lamar. We're in the early stages of what will be a great rivalry for years to come. Tonight begins  a new chapter though. We can't dethrone them tonight but we can certainly send a message that we're coming for that ass. Big time #1 seed/bye implications on the line here. Move to 3-0 against this team and we start having conversations about just how high this team can fly.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride. It's gameday.

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