Kansas City Chiefs first true test for Ravens in week three

The Kansas City Chiefs have played two semi-decent teams to this point of the season, at least on the defensive side of the ball. The Baltimore Ravens, on the other hand, haven’t played stealthy competition to this point.

That’s why this week three showdown is critical for both teams. For the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s their first game at Arrowhead this season and a chance to show they’re still one of the top dogs in the AFC.

For the Ravens, this is their chance to show they’re a legitimate force to be reckoned with in the AFC and to get redemption for Lamar Jackson’s lone regular season loss last year.

The Ravens have had it pretty easy so far and, as a result, have cruised to a 2-0 record to start the year. To this point, Baltimore has faced a Dolphins team that is clearly tanking and a Cardinals team that, despite being scrappy, aren’t quite up to par with the good teams quite yet.

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We’ve seen the Ravens offense put up some incredible numbers through their first two games and it’s been a lot of fun to watch. Their defense has also done well, especially against a feisty Cardinals offense last week that has shown early on this season that they can fight back late in games.

All of that being said, when the season is said and done, the Miami Dolphins will, in all likelihood hold the number one overall pick (which is obviously their goal) and the Arizona Cardinals will probably hold a top ten draft pick. The Chiefs will be Baltimore’s first true test and it’ll be interesting to see how they respond.

So far, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been incredible and a strong argument could be made that he’s the second best quarterback in the league to this point. He’s thrown for 596 yards and seven touchdowns, which are more passing touchdowns than he threw all of his rookie season (he had six passing touchdowns last year). He’s yet to throw an interception.

Jackson has been known as a running quarterback throughout his college career and pro career, but he didn’t show that skillset off in week one when he threw for a whopping five touchdowns. No, that week he ran for just six yards on three attempts. He did, however, have 120 yards rushing off 16 attempts in week two, so he’s definitely still a threat to run.

The question for Baltimore heading into this weekend’s game will be: Can they keep up with a legitimate offense?

It’s one thing to put up 50+ points on the Dolphins and to smack the Cardinals around a little bit, but neither of those teams have the firepower that the Chiefs do on offense. Kansas City has the reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and last year, he had one heck of a comeback against the Ravens to force overtime and eventually win the game.

Jackson has been spectacular to this point in the season, but can he continue putting up points when his defense can’t limit the other team as much? That remains to be seen.

This should be a fun one at Arrowhead on Sunday!

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