Kansas City has won 15 consecutive games in the season’s first month, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a lifetime September stat line of 35 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. To make matters worse for Baltimore, the Ravens have 14 players on various injured-reserve lists. The odds are that the Chiefs will leave Baltimore 2-0 and that the Ravens will head to Detroit looking for their first win.
WHAT: Week Two vs. Kansas City Chiefs
WHEN: 8:20 p.m. (ET); Sunday, September 19
WHERE: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore (70,745)
RECORDS: Chiefs, 1-0; Ravens, 0-1
LIFETIME SERIES (regular season): Chiefs lead, 7-3, having won the last four meetings in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (the middle two of those in Kansas City) after the teams had already traded three-game win streaks against each other. In Baltimore, the Ravens are 1-5 in regular-season play against the Chiefs, with three losses coming in prime time (Thursday night, 1999; Monday night, 2004; Monday night, 2020).
TV: WBAL-TV, Channel 11 (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, booth; Michele Tafoya, sidelines)
RADIO: WIYY-FM, 97.9 (Gerry Sandusky, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, booth)
REFEREE: Clete Blakeman
About the Chiefs
—Fans have had many questions about this, so here’s why the Ravens had to travel to Kansas City in 2018 and 2019 and why the Chiefs were required to come to Baltimore in 2020 and 2021. With the Ravens playing the entire AFC West Division in 2021, and with the teams that have met in Kansas City last time this was the case (2018), the schedule formula dictated that this game be played in Baltimore. Last season, the meeting with the Chiefs was one of the Ravens’ two “placement” games, that is, games determined by the teams’ finish in the previous year’s standings. The scheduling formula dictated that the Ravens would play an AFC West team at home that finished in the same spot in that division as the Ravens did in theirs, and the Ravens and Chiefs both won their divisions. Three years ago, the Ravens played the entire AFC West, with the formula putting the Kansas City game on the road, so with the last Ravens-Chiefs placement game in 2019 also taking place on the road, all of that explains why the teams have had to meet for four straight years at the predetermined sites.
—The Kansas City Chiefs began their existence as the Dallas Texans when the American Football League began operations in 1960. Three years later, owner Lamar Hunt – one of those primarily responsible for the invention of the Super Bowl – moved the team to Kansas City. The team won the 1962 AFL title as the Texans just before the move. The team was not the same as the NFL’s Dallas Texans, which had gone bankrupt in 1952 and was purchased by a Baltimore group the following year, becoming the second version of the Colts.
—The Chiefs would win two more AFL titles in 1966 and 1969 under their new name. Those wins put the Chiefs into Super Bowl 1 (losing to Green Bay in Los Angeles) and Super Bowl 4 (beating Minnesota in New Orleans). The Chiefs went 50 years before winning another title, taking Super Bowl 54 over San Francisco in Miami. Kansas City then advanced to its fourth Super Bowl last year in Tampa, losing to the host Buccaneers, 31-9. Under the present-day AFC West banner, the Chiefs have seven division titles, including in each of the past five seasons.
—In 61 complete seasons, the Chiefs have accumulated 23 playoff berths (tied with Miami for tenth-most) with 13 division championships and ten wild-card spots. Kansas City has a lifetime postseason record of just 15-20 (.429), but the Chiefs’ last two playoff runs have elevated the team’s playoff win percentage from the league’s second-worst to its eighth-worst. The Chiefs have advanced to just four post-merger AFC Championship Games (2-2), losing to Buffalo after the 1993 season, putting the Bills in their fourth straight Super Bowl, and New England in 2018 before beating Tennessee two years ago and Buffalo in 2020.
—When the Baltimore Colts were part of the NFL, that team won just three of eight meetings with the Chiefs. The losses included Kansas City’s 44-24 win at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium in 1970 in the second-ever “Monday Night Football” telecast.
—The Ravens and Chiefs have had a colorful, albeit short, history against each other. The Chiefs were the Ravens’ first-ever Thursday-night home opponent, blasting the Ravens, 35-8, in 1999. Six years later, Kansas City won again in Baltimore (on a Monday night) for one of only two Ravens losses in a Ring of Honor induction game, when Michael McCrary was honored.
—The Ravens topped the Chiefs in a thrilling 2009 home opener, and, in 2015, Kansas City won a 34-14 game in Baltimore that featured the Ravens’ infamous wearing of mustard-yellow uniform pants. Kansas City beat Baltimore in the last two years at its own Arrowhead Stadium, with the first game going to overtime, then beat the Ravens again in Baltimore under the lights last year. Baltimore has won the only postseason game between the two, a 2010 wild-card game at Kansas City.
—The Chiefs are one of six AFC teams and a leaguewide nine squads with a lifetime winning record over the Ravens, having won seven of the ten regular-season meetings. The other teams that currently have a lifetime regular-season edge on the Ravens are Carolina (Baltimore is 2-4 against the Panthers), Chicago (2-4), Green Bay (2-4), Indianapolis (5-8), Jacksonville (9-12), New England (2-9), Tennessee (10-11) and Pittsburgh (23-27).
—Fast starts are important to any season, and Kansas City and Baltimore both went into last year’s meeting 2-0, part of a group of 11 teams that started that way, tied for the most in league history (1998, 2006, 2008). Since 2006, 17 games have featured 2-0 teams colliding in Week Three. In three of those games, the winner has gone on to win the Super Bowl: Kansas City in 2019, New England in 2016, and Indianapolis in 2006.
—Last year, Kansas City was the second unbeaten defending Super Bowl champion to have ever played a road game at Baltimore, the first being New England in 2019. The Ravens are 6-5 against defending Super Bowl champions, including a 5-2 mark in such games at home, with the only losses coming via blowout to the Chiefs last year and against Indianapolis in 2007 on a Sunday-night telecast.
—The Chiefs’ 2021 schedule’s most interesting feature is that it features a very late bye week (Week 12, November 28). Kansas City is playing the entire AFC North this year; it opened at home against Cleveland last week before this week’s game at Baltimore. The Chiefs will host Pittsburgh on the day after Christmas before traveling to play Cincinnati on January 2. Two of Kansas City’s marquee home games in November when it plays Green Bay and Dallas.
—In 2018, Kansas City fielded one of the most prolific offenses in league history. The 565-point output ranks third all-time, bettered only by the 2013 Denver Broncos (606) and the 2007 New England Patriots (589). Since then, Kansas City has dropped off slightly, tallying 451 and 473 points the last two seasons; in fact, the Chiefs were outscored in the fourth quarter in 2020 by a slim 11-point margin. But Kansas City had the best third-quarter defense in the NFL last year, allowing only 28 points in that period all season.
—Usually, a team that passes the ball 654 times (including sacks allowed) and runs it on only 403 occasions won’t do very well, but that’s what the Chiefs’ run-pass ratio looked like in 2020. What also helped was the mobility of standout quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the fact that his offensive line allowed him to get sacked a mere 22 times all season before the banged-up front left Mahomes vulnerable in the Super Bowl. Backup Chad Henne went down twice, but the 24 total sacks allowed was one of the league’s lowest totals.
—Last year, Kansas City played to a rather modest plus-6 turnover ratio, the league’s eighth-best figure. The Chiefs recovered only six fumbles, tied for the third-fewest in the league. However, they offset that by throwing only seven interceptions on offense, tied for the league’s second-fewest and slightly trailing Green Bay’s five. The Chiefs also picked off 16 passes themselves. Last week against Cleveland, the Chiefs played to a plus-2 with one interception and one fumble recovery. The Chiefs had a rather average possession figure in 2020, holding the ball for 30:16 per game, ranking 16th. But good play in the clutch helped the Chiefs post an 8-1 record in games decided by a score or less.
—Last season, Kansas City was uncharacteristically sloppy, committing 105 accepted penalties, the third-highest total in the league and eight behind the team with the most (Arizona, 113). That number was also a mere one penalty more than Baltimore’s figure.—Last week in the home opener against Cleveland, the Chiefs were flagged for five penalties (36 yards). What didn’t help was 13 defensive holding calls and 14 flags for defensive pass interference. Individually, seven players committed five or more infractions.
—Head coach Andy Reid is the 13th head coach in Kansas City franchise history. He is in his ninth year with the Chiefs and has just begun his 23rd season as an NFL head coach. He is a three-time Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year, winning the Associated Press version of the award once. In his 30 years in the league as a head and assistant coach, Reid’s teams have made the playoffs 22 times; he has coached in five Super Bowls (winning two), nine NFC Championship Games, and three AFC title games. Reid is 99-43 in combined regular-season and playoff games with the Chiefs and has a career regular-season mark of 222-130-1 (.630).
—Before winning the title in 2019, Reid had the most wins of any head coach that had not won a Super Bowl. Currently, his 222 wins are the second-most among active coaches and the sixth-most all-time in regular-season NFL play. Reid’s total is just four below Green Bay legend Curly Lambeau, who is fifth. Every coach ahead of him is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame except for Bill Belichick, who is not yet eligible. In seven career games coaching against the Ravens, Reid is 6-1, and he has also defeated Ravens coach John Harbaugh in a Pro Bowl matchup. Harbaugh coached special teams for nine years and the secondary for one year under Reid. Notable assistants on Reid’s staff include former Ravens senior defensive assistant and secondary coach Steve Spagnuolo, who is the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, former University of Maryland assistant Brendan Daly (defensive line), as well as former NFL players Eric Bienemy (offensive coordinator) and Sam Madison (defensive backs).
—In 2020, the Chiefs ended the regular season ranked first in total offense (16th rushing, first passing, sixth scoring at 29.6 points per game). Kansas City tied for the league lead with 24.8 first downs per game and was third in third-down percentage, converting just over 48 percent of the time. Defensively, the Chiefs ranked 16th overall (21st vs. rush, 14th vs. pass, tied for tenth scoring, allowing 22.6 points per game). The red-zone defense ranked at the very bottom of the league, allowing touchdowns 76 percent of the time, while the third-down defense ranked more towards the middle of the league pack.
–-Fifth-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a 2017 first-round pick from Texas Tech (tenth overall), is In his fourth year as the team’s starter after the team traded Alex Smith to Washington. Mahomes is currently in the second season of a ten-year, $503 million contract extension, the biggest deal in professional sports history at the time. He has already been a league Most Valuable Player, a Super Bowl MVP, a three-time Pro Bowl selected, and first-team All-Pro. For his career (not including this year’s opener), he has completed 66 percent of his passes with 114 touchdowns, 24 interceptions, and a 108.7 passer rating. He averages 2.45 touchdown passes per game, the highest mark in NFL history (minimum 30 games). In September, Mahomes threw 35 touchdown passes and not one interception for his career. Last year, Mahomes threw 38 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. In three career games against the Ravens (all wins), Mahomes has hit on 70.4 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns, one interception, four sacks, and a 116.2 rating; he also has one rushing score.–Last week against Cleveland, Mahomes had 26 completions in 37 attempts for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Mahomes is backed up by 14-year NFL veteran Chad Henne.
—LSU-bred feature back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was taken towards the bottom of the 2019 draft’s first round. Edwards-Helaire, a teammate of Baltimore linebacker Patrick Queen on the Tigers’ national championship squad, got off to a slow start last week, gaining 43 yards on 14 carries, with no carry going further than nine yards. Edwards-Helaire averaged five yards per carry last year for a Chiefs running game that has underachieved. Previous starter Damien Williams, who ran for a 38-yard, game-clinching touchdown in the Super Bowl, opted out of the 2020 season due to Covid-19 concerns. Four-year veteran Darrel Williams is the backup, and Michael Burton is the team’s fullback.
—Kansas City brings its usual dazzling array of pass-game targets to go up against an allegedly stout Baltimore secondary. Tyreek Hill, fully recovered from a broken collarbone two years ago, is off to a hot start after gathering in 11 passes against Cleveland (on 15 targets) for an NFL-best 197 yards and a 75-yard touchdown that sparked a fourth-quarter rally. Hill is averaging 108 receiving yards per game against the Ravens. Mecole Hardman is back for his third season, and DeMarcus Robinson, a sixth-year player from Florida, is also in the mix. Robinson and Hardman scored against the Ravens in 2019 in a 23-point second-quarter burst; Hardman’s catch-and-run score went for 83 yards. Byron Pringle, a four-year veteran out of Kansas State, is one of the backups and contributes on special teams.
—Tight end Travis Kelce, who has blossomed into one of the league’s best at his position in recent years, broke out with a good game in the opener, catching six balls for 76 yards, a 12-yard average, and two scores, including his 50th career touchdown. He is only the second tight end in league history to have three straight 1000-yard seasons (Greg Olsen). Kelce had seven catches for 89 yards in the Chiefs’ win over the Ravens in 2019, and he has averaged 102 yards per game in seven Monday-night appearances. Former San Francisco tight end Blake Bell is Kelce’s backup; he is entering his second season in Kansas City.
—An injured, ineffective Chiefs offensive line, seen by many as the main culprit for the team’s lopsided Super Bowl loss, has been rebuilt with outside help. Former Ravens’ third-round pick Orlando Brown, Jr. at tackle and ex-New England Patriot standout Joe Thuney at guard on the left side. Thuney is the first player at any position in NFL history to be a Super Bowl starter in each of his first three seasons in the league. Brown, who allowed very few pressures in Baltimore last year, struggled with Cleveland edge rusher Myles Garrett last week. Second-year right tackle Lucas Niang was the only listed starter on the roster in 2020, but he opted out due to COVID concerns. Originally, Niang was taken in the third round (96th overall) of the 2019 draft.–The line also features a pair of first-year players; rookie center Creed Humphrey was a second-round pick (63rd overall) from Oklahoma, and right guard Trey Smith was this year’s sixth-round selection (226th overall) out of Tennessee. Humphrey, Smith, and Niang had not played a single NFL snap before last week’s opener against Cleveland.
—The Chiefs’ base defense switched from a 3-4 to a 4-3 two years ago. The unit picked up a new inside force in ex-Seattle starter Jarran Reed, who notched 10.5 sacks in 2018. He had been a 2016 second-round pick (49th overall). Reed is partnered inside by Florida State-bred third-year player Derrick Nnadi (unit-high ten tackles, a converted defensive end selected in the third round in 2019 after trading two picks to Baltimore to move up 11 spots. However, Nnadi did not start last week; the Chiefs opted for second-year man Dershawn Wharton instead. Wharton got three tackles in Week One.
—Moving from the inside to one of the end positions is Chris Jones, who, two years ago, became the first player in league history to get a sack in 11 straight games. His 15.5 sacks in 2018 were third-most in the league, and he got to Baker Mayfield twice last week. Not only that, Jones had two sacks and two forced fumbles in last year’s win at Baltimore.
—Frank Clark, who was inactive last week, should return at the other defensive end. Clark played his rookie contract on the dominant Seattle defense, leading that team with 13 sacks in 2019 before being traded to the Chiefs for a first-round pick and other considerations. Clark got a sack at Baltimore in 2020. Alex Okafor, a ninth-year player from Texas recovering from a calf injury, is one of the outside backups, as is second-year Michigan product Mike Danna, who started in Clark’s place against Cleveland.
—The Chiefs’ linebackers are an experienced group, but in the squad’s 4-2-5 base look, there aren’t as many of them on the field. The team’s leading tackler is inside linebacker and Dallas free-agent pickup Anthony Hitchens, who had ten or more tackles in five of seven games during one stretch in 2018; he had four tackles in the opener. He had finished second on the Cowboys’ squad in tackles in 2017. Hitchens’ new interior partner, his third in the last three years, is four-year Iowa product Ben Niemann, who made the Chiefs’ roster despite being undrafted in 2018. Niemann is versatile and athletic, able to play either inside or outside. Niemann did not start the opener, but rookie Nick Bolton, a second-rounder (58th overall) from Missouri, got the not instead and contributed seven tackles. Niemann had three tackles and a fumble recovery.
—Kansas City cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, a fourth-round second-year player (138th overall) from Louisiana Tech, was not listed as a starter as 2020 began. Still, he quickly played his way onto the first string. Sneed co-led the Chiefs with seven tackles last week. Charvarius Ward (four tackles) is the other outside starter, with ex-Minnesota first-round pick Mike Hughes taking over from Rashad Fenton in the slot. Fenton will often play in reserve both outside and in the nickel package. Hughes got the game-clinching interception against Cleveland last week. Hughes, the starting nickel corner and backup outside cover man, backs up in both roles.
—Daniel Sorenson is in his eighth year with the team, but only his fifth as a starting safety once he filled in for Eric Berry, who had torn his Achilles. Sorenson got moved to free safety last year because the strong safety is former Arizona Cardinals standout Tyrann Mathieu, who spent one season in Houston before coming to the Chiefs, where he is now in his third season. Mathieu, the well-known “Honey Badger,” broke up three passes in the 2019 win over Baltimore and had four breakups, three tackles for loss, and a sack in three career games against the Ravens. Mathieu, who can line up as a slot corner or safety, has recently been activated off the COVID list, and his status for this game is uncertain after he missed the Week One game against Cleveland. Juan Thornhill filled in for him last week and recorded seven tackles.
—Mecole Hardman, a second-year receiver taken in the second round from Georgia, is the primary punt returner, with backup receiver Byron Pringle taking over the kick-return role. Hardman fielded one punt last week and got a seven-yard return. Pringle ran back two kicks for 44 yards. The coverage teams did well, allowing only one four-yard punt return and a 13-yard kick runback.
—Former Georgia Tech and Carolina Panthers kicker Harrison Butker was a 2017 seventh-round pick who is 2-for-2 on field goals so far this year. He set an NFL record with 38 field goals as a rookie but surprisingly missed four extra points in 2018. His 62 successful field goals over his first two years stand as the club record, and Butker’s career field-goal accuracy rate (89.72 percent) is second in NFL history only to Baltimore’s Justin Tucker.
—The Chiefs punter is undrafted second-year player Tommy Townsend, who can also place-kick if anything happens to Butker. Townsend, a University of Florida product, has punted four times so far this season, recording two touchbacks and gross-averaging 45.5 yards per kick. His net average is 43.5, and he also has a 13-yard completion to his credit on his only career pass attempt.
Prediction
The Chiefs’ recent run of success has been characterized by their tendency to keep getting off to good starts. Kansas City has won 15 consecutive games in the season’s first month, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a lifetime September stat line of 35 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. The body of work includes having played three prime-time games in Baltimore, winning all of them, including one just last year. This year, Kansas City is healthier than the Ravens (14 players on various injured-reserve lists), and that’s an important edge. Lamar Jackson and his teammates will certainly do their best to break the Chiefs’ maddening hex, but the odds say the Chiefs will leave Baltimore 2-0 and that the Ravens will head to Detroit looking for their first win.
Kansas City 27, Baltimore 20
