This Game was a Long Time Coming

It is as it was always meant to be.

The Kansas City Chiefs and their all-world quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be coming to The Bank this weekend for an AFC Championship tilt that is sure to captivate the football-watching-public’s collective eye.

It is the match-up many expected after the 2019 season, when the Ravens and their own star quarterback Lamar Jackson steamrolled their competition en route to the best record in the league, setting up what appeared to be a fated collision between two of the top franchises in the sport, and probably the two most-marketable signal-callers in the league at that time.

Only, it didn’t happen in 2019. The Ravens didn’t hold up their end of the bargain, getting obliterated by the underdog Titans in the Divisional Round before they ended up watching Mahomes get showered with confetti after his Chiefs won the Super Bowl a few weeks later.

The two teams never had that showdown so many anticipated, and they never will. Players and coaches have moved on. The Chiefs continued to dominate, and the Ravens saw a few promising seasons get flushed down the toilet with injuries to Jackson, a lack of growth on offense and just a basic slide into the horrific land of Not Really a Contender come playoff time.

But the head coaches remain. The fan bases are the same. And those star quarterbacks are going to have the ball in their hands more than any other players on the field Sunday afternoon.

Game on.

Different Animals

Let’s get this out of the way before we go any further. A win here does nothing to wipe away the demons of 2019 — for the Ravens players, coaches, front office or fans.

Seasons like that one come around only so often, and watching that championship chase end before it even got started is just something that will never come back. It was, to be blunt, a wasted opportunity, and one that blanketed the franchise in a cloak of ridicule and questions.

It also left a very-real stain on what is otherwise a brilliant young career for Jackson. Coming on the heels of an uninspiring playoff debut the season before as a rookie, Jackson became known to many as “great in the regular season, but a disaster in the playoffs.”

It put him under a different level of scrutiny, and critics attacked his dearth of 300-yard passing performances or fourth-quarter comebacks. Many wrote him off as a novelty who had been figured out. He went 1-1 the following year in the postseason, but wasn’t particularly remarkable in either game.

The Ravens missed the playoffs the next year after Jackson got hurt when the team was currently holding the top seed in the AFC, and they went one-and-done last year, as Jackson again wasn’t able to play at the end of the year, due to injury.

And then… well, the contract stuff happened.

There’s no need to re-hash that whole situation, but it appeared that Jackson came back with a little extra skip in his step — a difficult task when you consider the size of his wallet after signing that record-breaking deal.

But he also had an extra sense of purpose, according to those around him in the organization. Jackson was happy and still a tremendous teammate, they all said, but maybe less care-free. More determined.

That attitude isn’t all that’s different about this 2023 team when compared to the 2019 version.

The Ravens now have two coordinators in Mike Macdonald and Todd Monken who not only have successful, proven systems, but also have shown the ability to adapt to the talent they have in hand.

Watch Macdonald use Kyle Hamilton in a way that best utilizes his unique skillset, both on and off the ball, or how he mixes a slew of cornerbacks with differing skills into possibly the most disruptive defensive backfield in the sport.

See how Monken, without his top two featured running backs for the majority of the season, put together the top rushing attack in the league, while opening up options — and the field in front of him — for Jackson in both the pass and run game.

Both coordinators have made in-game adjustments that shifted the course of games, and both are huge reasons for this game being played in Baltimore.

The Ravens, personnel-wise, are far different than they were in 2019, and probably better-equipped for a postseason run. A more sophisticated passing offense enables them to shift gears quickly or react to obvious mismatches without losing their character.

Want another big change that helps this team in the playoffs? The inside linebackers are Patrick Queen and one Roquan Smith. In 2019, it was L.J. Fort and Josh Bynes.

Yeah…

The Chiefs are much different, as well. Gone is the electric Tyreek Hill, the however-you-want-to-label-him Sammy Watkins, a run game that didn’t really spark a lot of fear and a defense that was largely dependent on pass rush and turnovers.

In their place is a different, more methodical pass attack, a dangerous, physical running back and one of the top defenses in the league.

Still Jackson and Mahomes

But it’s still Lamar Jackson. And it’s still Patrick Mahomes. Jackson just turned 27 a few weeks ago, and Mahomes is 28. They’re both in their primes, and two of the three quarterbacks selected to represent the AFC in the Pro Bowl in 2023. Jackson appears to be staring at his second MVP trophy, while Mahomes already has a pair.

The biggest difference in the two, obviously, is the team hardware. Mahomes has pretty-much already cemented his spot in Canton with two Super Bowl trophies and three AFC championships. Jackson is searching for his first.

This game could start to narrow that gap.

And while the Chiefs do appear a bit down this year, at least by their standards, they’re still here — their sixth straight trip to the AFC Championship game. Even the offense, which is taking its fair share of criticism this season because of dropped passes and some modest days of production, ranks 8th in Offensive DVOA, four spots behind the Ravens.

The Chiefs are also 7th in Defense, and 6th in Special Teams, by that metric, showing a team that is both solid and capable in every facet of the game. You know, just like the Ravens, who rank 4th, 1st and 3rd in those same categories, respectively.

So, basically, we’re looking at two of the most well-rounded teams in the league, led by two of the most dangerous quarterbacks on the planet.

It’s as if this match-up was pre-ordained.

Game on. Finally.