If the Chiefs put the pedal to the metal right from the opening kickoff Sunday, that could spell trouble for the Ravens.
Kansas City is set to take on top-seeded Baltimore in the AFC Championship. The Ravens have been more consistent wire-to-wire this season, but the Chiefs have experience on their side. This will be their sixth straight trip to the conference title game, and they hit their stride right as the postseason arrived.
But the Ravens represent their biggest test yet. Their offense is electric, and the defense has been one of the NFL’s best. The Dolphins and Bills were hardly cakewalks, but both those teams had far more glaring flaws than the Ravens do.
So, putting the Ravens' back against the wall off the jump is imperative for Kansas City, Chiefs radio network play-by-play man Mitch Holthus said Friday on Fescoe in the Morning.
“I think the first key, the biggest key, is you immediately must put pressure on the Ravens," Holthus said. "And that doesn’t necessarily mean physical pressure – it helps to sack Lamar Jackson, you’ve just got to be very sound, and I think that’s another key to victory this week for the Chiefs because of what they had to endure last week. But mental pressure. That crowd could turn on their own team if the Chiefs are showing signs that the Ravens have put so much, like the Bills, loading their cannon with all kinds of canisters and when they shoot and miss, it’s a big problem.
“If you apply pressure immediately in this game in one way, shape, or form, even just telling them how you’re not going to score easily or we’re going to hit you, because you want to come in as the bully. And (the Ravens) are physical, they’re good, they’re fast – but so are the Chiefs. And if you set that tone at the beginning of the game, it could create some anxiety that would be more for a team like this than it would be for a team like the Chiefs who have been there, done that many times in recent years.”