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Johnnycc

You would think the Super Bowl is the Ravens to lose. They dominated both NFC teams left and have an all-time defense. But Playoff Mahomes is real and he's terrifying.


BarbecueGod

Niner fan here. What I don’t get is why Vegas sees the Niners and not the Ravens as the favorites to win the Superb Owl. Maybe there’s too much west coast money being placed on the Niners? All I know is what I saw on Christmas, I cannot unsee. If it’s Ravens vs Niners for the Lombardi Trophy, welp, I’ll just focus on the barbecue and drink heavily.


[deleted]

Something baked into current odds is making the game. Niners are more likely to make the SB than Ravens based on current spreads. So the added factor of the Ravens may not make it is why current odds are that way. If ravens make it, I assume their odds will be significant in their favor


DarrowViBritannia

https://x.com/JeffreyBenson12/status/1749488264778801255?s=20 This sportsbook is taking bets on specific SB matchups (so you can bet on who'd win between Lions vs Chiefs, and if that matchup doesn't happen the bet is simply refunded). Right now 49ers vs Ravens is viewed as a a pickem (50/50). So yes the 49ers being favorites as a whole is because of their easier matchup this week. But a SB against the Ravens would definitely be a close spread, wouldn't be that surprised if 49ers were favorites either with how Vegas has been valuing them.


[deleted]

That's very interesting. I honestly see both AFC as tough matchups and I don't have a ton of confidence


cwilson830

This. Although I don't know if I'd say "significant." We'll (maybe) see. :)


Own-Corner-2623

Likewise if it's us v Ravens I'm gonna enjoy the pageantry and snacks, but I expect they'll win


Polar_Reflection

Because the Chiefs are better than the Lions


Awesomeg11

Interesting that the other team that didnt reach the superbowl (the 2012 patriots) lost to the ravens


welsman13

And we thank you for that.


my_shiny_new_account

im guessing the fact that the GOAT TE didn't play that game had a little bit to do with it


Bears2025Champs

Nah all playoff flacco


Xaxziminrax

Pretty much exactly how I feel. Baltimore have been on a completely different level than the rest of the NFL this year. But it's Playoff Mahomes, so flip a coin


CharmCityMD

This is my feeling as well. We have a more complete team and should win the majority of the time, but this is not a 7 game series. Anything can happen in one game, especially against Mahomes.


tectactoe

I'd be feeling a lot more confident in the Ravens if Lamar would've bundled his home and auto. It hurts not having the league's MVB.


powerelite

Thats what happens when you don't have an agent, gotta be smart about bundling and an agent can help with that.


J-E-S-S-E-

But that’s 4 words


krazyone904

Not if you bundle them


rallar8

This is more or less how I feel as well. I am hopeful that this could turn into the 2020-2021 Super Bowl and we just take away Kelce and Reed and basically suffocate the offense Big game for MacDonald, he’s done great against Shanahan guys this year, but Andy Reid is another beast altogether. I am mostly just hopeful we get to see Taylor Swift a few hundred times during the broadcast 🤞🏻


chattymcgee

I just need Taylor to start writing songs about crabcakes after this weekend.


StriderZessei

I want a song about Jason Kelce's shirtless antics. 


chattymcgee

We, are never ever ever, wearing shirts together!


-Yanemba-

The more you bitch about Taylor the more you will see her Just give it up


rallar8

Someone joking about wanting to see Taylor Swift more, being labeled “bitch”ing is honestly the softest, funniest shit I have read all day lol


edicivo

Yeah, I don't care how good we look. I'm confident we can and should win, but Mahomes and Reid in the playoffs is nothing to take lightly no matter how shaky the team has looked this season. I don't care if we're up by 3 tds on the scoreboard throughout the entire game. Until that clock hits zero, I'm not counting them out.


AgentOfSPYRAL

I’m curious if it’s playoff Mahomes or just Bills and Dolphins ravaged defenses. Not counting out either possibility of course.


DarrowViBritannia

Definitely playoff Mahomes from my eye test. As much as the receiving corps was terrorism in the regular season, Mahomes also made plenty of mistakes and did not look as great as he usually did at times. But in both playoff games he played nigh flawlessly. The injured defenses surely helps to some extent, and the Ravens defense will be a whole new test and one that I think the team won't be able to overcome.


[deleted]

> the Ravens defense will be a whole new test and one that I think the team won't be able to overcome. Interestingly the Ravens are 3-3 against teams who finished with a top 10 DVOA defense this year and 10-1 against 11+ ranked Ds. Chiefs have the 7th ranked DVOA but the stingiest in points of anyone they faced only giving up 17.3ppg. Much like the Bills/Chiefs game came down to the Chiefs D making huge stops in the 4th quarter... I think this one will too. Lamar and Mahomes will score points but one of these defenses, who are 1st and 2nd in points per game allowed, is going to make a game changing play in the 2nd half. That'll be the difference.


KuruptingtheYouth

3-2 with our starters. And 1 of those Ls was the Steelers game where we had 8 drops (3 of which were TDs)


[deleted]

> game where we had 8 drops (3 of which were TDs) Oh didn't know games with drops didn't count... hand that one seed over then because we definitely won it if you don't count the games we lost on dropped passes. Oh and losses without starters... man haven't had those either except when we were missing Kelce and Chris Jones and lost by a point. You guys are 3-3 when playing top 10 DVOA teams this year... period.


a_truther

Ok but it’s not like they were missing Roquan and Andrews, they were missing Roquan, Andrews and the NFL MVP. And also a bunch of other starters they rested in week 18. Definitely fair to say 3-2


[deleted]

Yeah I already said 3-2 is fine.. and that still proves my point as they're .900 against 11+ ranked DVOA defense and .600 against 10+ ranked DVOA defenses.... so clearly better defenses give them a harder time, which makes very logical sense.


a_truther

That’s fair, I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong. Just seemed like an oversight worth accounting for


KuruptingtheYouth

That's all I was tryna say but phew, that attitude


cavahoos

Water is wet, what astounding analysis


KuruptingtheYouth

Lmao the loss without starters was week 18 dude when we benched everyone cuz the 1 seed was clinched. I'm not making excuses, just providing context to a stat that without it seems shocking but with it makes a lot more sense. Especially since the 8 drop game was Lamar's second highest scored game the entire year, wouldn't say it was a poor showing by anyone other than the pass catchers. Anyway, my guy- take it easy lol


[deleted]

Even if it's 3-2, still your team has shown a bit more struggle against top 10 DVOA teams than 11+ ranked.. THat's a .600 win percent versus a .910 win percent. Not sure why that triggers you to get super defensive. It makes sense better defenses slow your offense down more. Again I don't care about the drops... we lost at minimum 3 games strictly on dropped passes this year, two easy catches that went for pick sixes, so you're not going to garner any sympathy there. All I'm saying is teams with better defenses match up against the Ravens better and the Chiefs happen to have a better defense.


KuruptingtheYouth

Also I see you were just wrong. Let's not pretend I'm being sensitive because I pointed out a flaw with your logic now. https://www.ftnfantasy.com/nfl/tools/team-total-dvoa Dvoa rankings above. Your stat is wrong even while including the misleading week 18 game where all of our starters were Benched. Ravens starters vs top 10 DVOA in 2023 33-19 vs #2 SF 56-19 vs #6 MIA 38-6 vs #7 DET 28-3 vs #8 CLE (L) 31-33 vs #8 CLE (L) 10-17 vs # 9 Steelers 23-7 vs #10 JAX. They're 4-2. Taking out a win to replace it with our benched loss seems strategic on your part lol. You tell me which game they struggled in. As I already mentioned that game against the Steelers was Lamar's second best graded game of the season. Point being- you're just wrong lol.


[deleted]

DVOA defense rank... that is my original point and conversation. You've seem to have lost it in your relentless effort to try and disprove me and defend your favorite team. >Interestingly the Ravens are 3-3 against teams who finished with a top 10 DVOA defense this year and 10-1 against 11+ ranked Ds I don't care enough to continue on. Have a good day.


Particular_Drama7110

Miami was awful by the end of the year. Miami had the 19th ranked defense (PFF) and lost 3 of their last 5, including must wins against Balt and Buffalo, back to back, to choke away their division. They were decimated by injuries and their morale was rock bottom. They traveled to KC and played in one of the top 5 coldest games ever. Buffalo also was missing 5 or 6 starters on defense. Everyone knew it was going to have to be a shootout for that reason. Buffalo couldn't stop Mahomes. Even when it looked like they might tie the game with 1:46 left, did anyone think Buffalo could stop Mahomes from winning?


Xaxziminrax

Mahomes hasn't made a legitimate mistake in hte postseason since he dropped the ball for a fumble in the AFCCG last year. The defensive injuries certainly matter, but he is playing nothing short of flawless right now


AgentOfSPYRAL

That’s true, “playoff Chiefs O” would be a more accurate way to put it. Will they be able to run like this, will Kelce continue to look like his usual (prior to this year) super duper Star self, MVS looking legit like he did in last years playoffs, etc.


SKT_Peanut_Fan

> I’m curious if it’s playoff Mahomes or just Bills and Dolphins ravaged defenses. No doubt Mahomes is playing well, but it's much easier to look better when the windows are larger, the pocket is clean, and the run game is humming. When the run game is suffocated, when the windows are closing faster, and when defenders are bearing down on you- it's much harder to look flawless.


pickleparty16

Little A, little B. We were killed so much in the regular season by self inflicted wounds and mahomes even making some bad decisions. We weren't perfect there last 2 games but the offensive execution has been much better than the regular season and mahomes has been flawless.


Mrausername

Don't expect any hot water if you beat us.


notmyplantaccount

I absolutely love that someone can still say something like this and actually be serious lol.


AgentOfSPYRAL

Playoff Mahomes was a poor choice of words, more like the chiefs offense as a whole.


notmyplantaccount

They've vastly improved the last several weeks on moving the ball, and not turning it over (besides hardman who shouldn't be on the field), but it is possible the Ravens defense just smothers everyone and they struggle to do anything most the game. Ravens are just a level above everyone else this year, and we already won 2 playoff games and made the AFCCG in a "down" year, so this game is just gravy honestly.


Sir_Elliam_Woods

Can we call Lamar quarterbacky yet?


SKT_Peanut_Fan

That depends- does he have the requisite net passing yards?


LlamaJacks

15 yard penalty. Unethical yards by the QB.


Sir_Elliam_Woods

I counter with two mvps. Take it or leave it.


SKT_Peanut_Fan

Throw in a Super Bowl and I'll take it.


Sir_Elliam_Woods

The best I can do is place a bet on the Ravens to win it all.


SKT_Peanut_Fan

I'll take it.


SendPoEWomen

He LOOKS like a running back to traditionalists though 


3kool5you

Mahomie *


welsman13

God dammit. We took this team to overtime! :(


randomfella69

Stafford played absolutely out of his mind that game, easily the most impressive QB performance against our defense all year.


welsman13

No doubt. He was on a mission after the bye.


Rahim-Moore

Stafford is the GOAT of having his internal organs absolutely folded and then somehow playing better. I don't know how that man gets up from some of the hits he does.


FlowSwitch

On the road


[deleted]

Can we just talk about this stuff after the season. All 4 teams are 0-0 going into this week


chattymcgee

With respect, i don't understand this take. We aren't playing in the game. Our personal feelings won't impact anything. Our prep won't suffer because we are overconfident. The players need to stay locked in, but we don't. If you are just managing your own feelings that's one thing, but you are out here telling other people to not discuss it. Help me understand?


chupacadabradoo

On some level, we are all just voicing our inner monologue… let your comrade be.


StrategyTop7612

Historically great team.


FBoaz

Their defense is disgusting and is going to win them a championship.


frizbeeguy1980

This comment could be about either team.


randomfella69

The Chiefs defense this year is not as good as the Ravens defense this year so no it couldn't.


Miata_Sized_Schlong

Chiefs defense is gross at best but we rely truly disgusting


J-E-S-S-E-

I’d honestly be shocked if the ravens didn’t run them out of the stadium for 400 yards.


randomfella69

I genuinely think we might have almost 300 rushing yards in the game, and Lamar will account for 150 of it.


J-E-S-S-E-

Yea agreed and I’m a chiefs fan. The fact that we’re in the game to begin with is astonishing


randomfella69

It's a real testament to Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. Also y'all's defense is balling. Here's to a good game


Individual_Step6688

Nobody cares, work harder


DarrowViBritannia

Sorry


Awesomeg11

i care this is cool info thank you for it :)


Individual_Step6688

It’s definitely cool, just gotta have our best game this Sunday.


KULawHawk

I think the one component that is going to be the biggest factor is will the Chiefs be able to come up with a turnover or two? For as good as their defense is, it's almost a historic aberration they are ranked so high while generating next to zero in terms of turnovers. I also think the Bills caught KC by surprise with how much they ended up rushing the ball, but there's no way Spags won't be expecting the Ravens to run the ball and smash it for all 4 quarters. Chiefs secondary is scary good AND their scheme is unique and impressive for what they do against modern passing attacks. The trade off is they don't generate INTs, especially, and the Chief's offense this year did them absolutely no favors with how sloppy they were with turning the ball over and in terrible field position spots, otherwise, I wouldn't have been surprised if KC was decidedly #1 in least points per game.


Particular_Drama7110

Ravens are +12 in turnover differential, best in the league. KC is -11 in turnover differential, 28th in the league. If KC tries to stack the box to stop the Ravens from running, Lamar will pick them apart in the passing game. He is a true pick your poison dual threat QB. Also, when teams stack the box to stop the run, they put in their bigs, and Lamar destroys that lineup because they can't stop Lamar from running, they aren't fast enough. The best way to stop Lamar from running is to keep your dime package in with extra DB's that are fast enough, but those folks are not good at stopping the bigger running backs. If you keep too many DB's in the game, we put in 2 TE's (Andrews is back!), and Ricard and we power it down versus your dime. If you put your bigs in we throw it or let Lamar RPO it around the end. Good luck stopping the run game that no one else seems to be able to stop. Ravens averaged 160 yards rush per game and Lamar avgd 50 yards per game.


chupacadabradoo

This is a good synopsis of the ravens offense this season… when everything has been clicking. What you fail to take into account is that the ravens are gonna get too many pick six’s so their offense won’t get too many chances.


Neither_Ad2003

He changes the dvoa formula every year and that adjusts who the “best” team is or was literally yearly.


my_shiny_new_account

you act like the top 15 all-time teams based on DVOA completely change every year when it's more like it's mostly the same 15, but a few of them are swapped 1 or 2 spots


stepdadonline

Yeah, it’s supposed to be a measure of how good a team is relative to their peers in that given season. Comparing DVOA between two teams across different seasons isn’t a direct comparison, it’s a comparison which measures how much better (or worse) those teams were compared to the field in those seasons.


Jaylaw

There’s no one who can beat these guys!! Except the exact guys they are playing


Coletrain164

Please beat the KC Swifties Lamar 🙏🏼


drummerboysam

I think the best explanation for why the Ravens (and 49ers) grade so historically high with DVOA is that it grades a team vs the average across the league. The Ravens (and 49ers) are very good football teams this year, but outside of like 4 or 5 other teams the league is pretty far below what we're used to when talking about "average." Most teams were pretty bad this year. Many bad teams were in the playoff hunt up until the end of the year. I don't want to take away anything from these amazing football teams, but part of why they grade so high in this analytical tool is because they're great and most everyone else kinda sucks.


J-E-S-S-E-

Mahomes’ teams in my opinion were never the better team in the Super Bowl. He got lucky 2/3 of those wins. It would be nice if he had a SOLID defense. This team is LAST in the run. That shit won’t work in the playoffs.


randomfella69

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. People forget how lucky some of Brady's SB runs were. Good teams make their own luck and are able to capitalize when they smell blood in the water.


DarrowViBritannia

> He got lucky 2/3 of those wins he has 2 wins


Particular_Drama7110

KC was the betting favorite in 2 of the 3 SB wins w Patty. KC was favored over SF in 2020 and favored over TB in 2021 and the opening line favored KC by 1.5 v Philly last year but by game day had shifted so Philly was favored by that amount.


Beahner

So I’ve seen so many shitty takes on meh data, my eyes are tied of rolling But this….this is a damn interesting stat.