The Baltimore Ravens And Kansas City Chiefs Are On A Collision Course

The favorite to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LV is either the Baltimore Ravens or the Kansas City Chiefs. Those teams appear to be the class of not only their conference, but also the NFL as a whole.

The Ravens had the NFL’s best regular-season record last year at 14-2, and it looks like they have gotten even better.

One of the team’s few weaknesses was a front seven that was exposed in the playoffs when Baltimore allowed 217 rushing yards to the Tennessee Titans.

The Ravens upgraded that unit by trading a mere fifth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for defensive lineman Calais Campbell, a five-time Pro Bowler. Campbell’s contract with the Jaguars only ran through 2020. So the Ravens extended him and gave him a $10 million signing bonus.

Their 2020 NFL Draft drew rave reviews as it addressed their other major weaknesses. They improved at linebacker. One of the best in the draft, LSU’s Patrick Queen, slid to them in the first round, and the Ravens selected Ohio State’s Malik Harrison in the third round.

They added much-needed wide receiver help with speedy Devin Duvernay in the third round and reliable James Proche in the sixth round. And second-round pick J.K. Dobbins should further bolster last year’s No. 1 rushing offense by being able to spell 30-year-old Mark Ingram.

Meanwhile, the Super Bowl LIV champion Chiefs remain the team to beat after retaining 20 of 22 starters from last year’s championship squad. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach deftly signed several of his free agents, including Mike Pennel, Bashaud Breeland and Demarcus Robinson, to one-year contracts to work his way around the salary cap.

“Frankly, we were skeptical that we would be able to keep as many of the guys in Kansas City as we ultimately were able to do,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “Those players want to be in Kansas City, they want to be playing for the Chiefs, playing with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid because they know they’ve got another shot to win a Super Bowl.” 

The defending Super Bowl champs will play the Ravens in one of the marquee games on the NFL schedule. That Monday Night Football contest is slated for Sept. 28.

That game could go a long way toward determining who holds home-field advantage. The 2020 season has a revamped playoff system featuring three wild-card teams per conference, and only one team will get a first-round bye.

That team with the bye could very well be the Ravens or the Chiefs.

Adding further intrigue is that those teams feature the NFL’s last two MVPs, Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. One year after Mahomes had a transcendent season while throwing for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns, Jackson set the all-time, single-season rushing mark for a quarterback with 1,206 yards while leading the NFL with 36 touchdown passes.

The 23-year-old Jackson and 24-year-old Mahomes are the new faces of the NFL.

Mahomes, whose squad bested Jackson and the Ravens 33-28 in Week Three last year, raved about his MVP successor last season.

“Lamar is playing at an extremely high level right now not only with what he is able to do with his legs but the way he’s able to get in the pocket and hit these seam throws,” Mahomes said. “With the more and more experience he’s gotten, he’s really understanding what defenses are trying to do to him.”

Currently, Jackson is 0-2 against Mahomes, but both of those games were played in Arrowhead Stadium. Jackson finally gets his chance to host Mahomes this year.

Jackson and Mahomes have not faced each other in the playoffs yet, but look for that change to sometime soon.