Lamar Jackson has lost all three of his previous meetings with Patrick Mahomes; Watch the Kansas City Chiefs @ Baltimore Ravens on Sunday’s triple-headline NFL event live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.20 AM Monday.
Our kryptonite. This is what the brutal and honest Lamar Jackson called “Kansas City Chiefs” after his Baltimore Ravens lost 34-20 to Patrick Mahomes’ men in the third week of last season.
They meet again on Sunday night, a week earlier this season. And maybe Kryptonite Chieftain is a team from Baltimore desperate for Superman for Sunday’s meeting.
The Ravens risk slipping to 0-2 to start the season for the first time in six years after losing 33-27 overtime losses to Las Vegas in the first match of the season in Monday Night Football.
They are also experiencing a deepening trauma crisis. Running trio J.C. Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill lost this season, as well as two-time All-Pro defender Marcus Peters.
Worryingly, after losing this Sunday, Baltimore is at risk of being left behind in his division. The Cleveland Browns pushed Kansas City into a 33-29 opening defeat while the Pittsburgh Steelers cut Allen’s lead in the first week. Heck, the Cincinnati Bengals even won, making it even harder for the Crows to leave AFC North.
Continuing the superhero analogy, the start of the season in Baltimore is the equivalent of a runaway train off the track. They need Jackson to save them and get them back on track.
But there are lingering fears that he will not be able to carry the team on his shoulders. Following the MVP season, Jackson fell short in 2020 – across all categories.
Passing yards fell from 3.127 to 2.757 and touchdowns from 36 to 26, and only his interception tally increased from six to nine. Jackson will always pose a threat to his feet, and he once again exceeded 1,000 yards in a year, but was 201 meters short of his staggering 1,206 yards in 2019.
The concern is that the Baltimore quarterback cannot win matches on his hand alone. And since then he has been overtaken by Josh Allen of Buffalo as the new golden boy of AFC who, according to both playing peers and commentators, is most likely to topple Mahomes.
