From May 17: NFL Sneak Preview Week 1 – Baltimore vs Kansas City

The Super Bowl champs are home against the Ravens. The NFL is not wasting any time to win the ratings war. We have the two best AFC teams squaring off against each other with two of the best coaches in the league. Since 2018, Andy Reid with Patrick Mahomes and John Harbaugh with Lamar Jackson are both 5 – 1 on Week 1 and after a bye.

Andy Reid in the regular season is 41 – 13 since Mahomes became a starter. In the off season, the Chiefs used 6 of their 7 draft picks to build up their offense. The Chiefs are going all out to protect Mahomes and give him a few more targets to throw to. Going into this season, Mahomes is 3 – 1 against Lamar. The betting line opened with KC favored to win by – 3.

John Harbaugh is 36 – 17 since Lamar Jackson started. These numbers should be higher when you count the injuries sustained by Lamar and his Covid-related absence. The Baltimore Ravens lost 13 players, bought in over 20 free agents and drafted 7. The biggest move in the off season was the signing of Derrick Henry. Having Lamar and Henry in the same backfield should open their passing game with the run-pass option. We like the Ravens, but not in Week 1.

In last year’s championship games, three of the four teams were near the top of the league in scoring. Detroit scored 461, San Francisco 491, and Baltimore 483. The Chiefs scored only 371 and got in by their defense by allowing 17 points a game. This year, look for them to open up there playbook in their quest to win 3 straight Super Bowls.

It’s early in the season and there will be injuries galore, but KC is the better team. Their secret weapon, Harrison Butker, kicked his way to 137 points last year. He has no problem hitting a field goal from 55 – 60 yards. This will be a great game. We Like KC to win today. Let’s have a look at the injury report on September 4th.