NFL Week 1 Thursday Night Football: Ravens at Chiefs | Full Game PREVIEW

Welcome in to CBS sports HQ, presented by Canva. Love your work. We are starting with the full squad four wide. I'm Jacqueline D'Agostino with Tommy Tran, Lee J. Douzable and Kyle Long. We've been waiting so long to say this, but football is officially back. Gentlemen, we got a little happy dance from Shay and Kyle. We are so excited. Chiefs! Ravens! What a game to open up the season. Yeah, you know the linemen. They wake up excited on game day. They're going to go get sacks. Offensive linemen. We can't sleep the night before. Games really protect guys like Aaron Rodgers and Caleb Williams. So two guys who were excited in different ways about week one for sure. I mean, for it to be so long, it felt like it was months and months of just waiting. And then to get a matchup like this for the first game, right. Repeated the AFC Championship game. How could you not be excited for week one in the NFL? They know what they're doing, right. No more countdowns, no more mock drafts. Only football time. Just a few timestamp reminders. As we start the new season, folks. Chiefs are the betting favorite at FanDuel plus 550, followed by the Niners at 6 to 1 and Ravens at 11 to 1. So that means we get two of the three Super Bowl favorites kicking things off tonight at Arrowhead. And it features two guys who have each won two league MVP's. It's the fourth week one matchup in NFL history featuring past two NFL MVP's, but it's the first time we get quarterback against quarterback. So any time you only get the fourth time in history, it raises some eyebrows, right? So it's Kurt Warner Terrell Davis in 2000, Barry Sanders Brett Favre in 1998. And then Earl Campbell and Terry Bradshaw in 1988. If I were to ask you what interests you most about Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, what would that be? Well, not only that, Tom, this is the first time two former quarterbacks for MVP are facing off in week one. But these are the two guys that won the last two MVP awards. So when you look at this matchup and you start with Lamar Jackson, everybody will tell you this. It's not about the regular season with Lamar Jackson. It's about what he can do in the postseason. But I would throw a caveat in there because Kyle you know this as a player you never want to have somebody have one up on you. Well Patrick Mahomes is four and one versus Lamar Jackson. He is the only quarterback in the NFL versus Lamar Jackson. That is plus three in the win column. So for Lamar Jackson and how he struggled in that game in the AFC Championship game. And people were wondering why didn't they run the ball in the second half? Well, when you go back and watch the tape. Offensive coordinator Todd Monken had some RPOs in there. There was opportunity for Lamar to actually hand the ball to the running back, but I thought he pressed a little bit in that game. And then when you go to Patrick Mahomes can't wait to see this new look offense right. The offense really struggled last year. The continuity between Patrick Mahomes and the receivers wasn't quite there. We've heard Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes say we really want to press the ball down the field. They went and got the fastest guy in NFL history in Xavier worthy. Can't wait to see what that new look offense looks like for the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah. And every year we see Patrick Mahomes face new challenges. And obviously as the greatest player on earth, you're going to want to see that guy come out and play every single season and every single week. Well, he's answered those questions with, great, I can handle this every single time out. And with this year, we're looking at a team where we say, hey, the Chiefs actually got better this season offensively. I can't wait to see what it's going to be looking like. And without Hollywood Brown, we're going to see the involvement of these young receivers early and often. For Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and for Lamar Jackson, you're going to look at opportunities to find some of those receivers that weren't available last year. Early in the play, because who are the Chiefs without Ladarius Snead, one of the best press corners in football. And without him, you're going to rely on these young guys. We talked about McDuffie off screen and obviously Joshua Williams, a couple of these guys trying to fight for Watson for playing, for playing time on the back end. Lamar will have decisions to make early in the down. I'd love to see him throw, but obviously those legs loom very dangerous for the Chiefs defense. If we break it down team by team, starting with the Chiefs. You mentioned this new look offense. They got got a whole lot faster and the receiving corps that was an issue last season when we were saying hey if there's ever a season to get the Chiefs it's probably last year. Good luck this time around as we let them get away. Going for that three let them off the hook I know. Kyle, what do you want to see though from this receiving corps specifically and what Andy Reid can kind of mark up for them to feel good about this Chiefs squad going for a three peat. I want to see guys that when you throw them the football, they catch it. I want I want to see the catchable balls get caught. I mean, and for how good is Patrick Mahomes has been on paper and from the stats standpoint there have been a lot of drops. There's been a lot of issues in that receiver room, but I think they've gone away from the guys. That can be issues in that. In that regard, we saw some of the faces that were out there last year. They're not around this year, but for the guys like Rashee Rice and for Xavier Worthy, I want them to be kind of an extension of that. Travis Kelce comfort pillow that you know, that teddy bear that my daughter has. That's what Travis Kelce is. I want to see more guys become that for Patrick Mahomes this year I think you will see that Justin Watson is a guy he's always had a lot of faith in as well. And let's not forget they brought an old friend back. Juju Smith Schuster, who was big in that 2022 year when they won a championship. And when you look at this team, people are asking can they repeat or three peat? Excuse me, let me get that right. Can they three peat. Absolutely. Let's just go down history Lane going back to that 2019 season right. It was Tyreek Hill blowing the top off the defense Patrick Mahomes throwing for nearly 300 yards. Then when you look at what they did in 2022 right with Tyreek Hill being traded away. They still had the number one offense in football Travis Kelce was Unguardable right. And we talked about Juju Smith Schuster. He was big as the number two option. And the defense started to come along Kyle when we go to last year the offense really struggled for the Chiefs. This team was led by its defense. So when you look at this Chiefs team winning three out of the last five, they've been able to reinvent themselves so many times. They can beat you so many ways Kyle. So obviously this team can three peat because you just don't know what Chiefs team you're going to get. But they can beat you in a multitude of ways. Yeah I mean the Chiefs great obviously on offense. But they went to Baltimore and it was that defense that made the play on the goal line. And our guy Jarius Sneed no longer there. But it's the defense. The point remains defenses do win championships. And I love the front with Chris Jones obviously a true world beater a matchup nightmare. Somebody that keeps us up all night. And then this guy George Karlaftis. I think this year Karlaftis could have 15 plus sacks. I think he's going to have a breakout season now. He was double digits or near it last year. Yeah he was double. He's going to hit 15 this year. It's just the nature of the way that they rush the quarterback. And to your point talking about the second half in the AFC Championship game, I think people tend to forget even though Patrick Mahomes is Superman, he essentially became a game manager in some of those playoff games because he knew he could lean on the defense when the Chiefs offense was struggling. He was pressing a little bit too much. I think about that Denver game where he had a couple picks. He decided to take a step back and say, let me just get it into my playmakers hands. Let me not try to force anything. Sometimes a sack is a winnable play, right? And you punt the football away. And we saw that the Chiefs offense didn't score the second half versus the Ravens. But he didn't put the ball in harm's way. That's the evolution of Patrick Mahomes. Let's get to a familiar face in a new place in Derrick Henry saw the running back market early and often have a lot of change. Kyle here, everyone's wondering what Derrick Henry and this Todd Monken offense is going to look like. What are you expecting? Well, a guy like Derrick Henry and there aren't many like him, but a guy like Derrick Henry can take the pressure off of a quarterback and a receiving room so much. And the offensive coordinator, one thing Derrick Henry is going to do, he's going to make yards after first contact. And as a no lineman, all you're asked to do is try to get this play started and get out of 20 two's way, or get the defensive lineman out of 20 two's way. He is going to be great for Lamar Jackson's progression as a quarterback this year. People say, well, they're just going to run the football. No, this is all to set up. Lamar Jackson to be a down the field passer, because you have to respect the king. How do you respect the king with numbers okay. You put numbers in the box Lamar is going to have advantageous matchups on the outside I love this move by the Ravens Kyle I love that you said this is going to take pressure off Lamar because for Derrick Henry's whole career he's been the guy that has had the most pressure right facing eight and nine man boxes. So when you look at this, I feel like Lamar is going to take pressure off Derrick Henry. People wondered, did he still have it? I felt like last year, even though he didn't have a really good offensive line, he still rushed for over 1100 yards. And when you look at what he's done over the last five years, he's averaged over 100 yards per gam. When you look at this Baltimore Ravens team, even without Derrick Henry number one in the NFL in rushing yards per game over 156 rush yards. So just imagine King Henry in the backfield with Lamar Jackson and some of those RPOs. We talked about linebackers playing a little bit slow. Well if you let King Henry get downhill good luck with your secondary. Like you mentioned for Lamar Jackson. You know it's not about what he can do in the regular season. It's all about the postseason. We just talked about Derrick Henry. Some of the new pieces that they have, some of the pieces that they lost as well. I'll start with you. Is this the year for the Ravens to finally get a Super Bowl win or get to the Super Bowl? I don't believe so. I feel like last year was the team to make that Super Bowl run. And when you look on paper, that was the most complete team in the NFL. Not even just on paper. When you look on film and saw what they did on defense, the number one defense in so many categories, that was the year for them to beat Patrick Mahomes. They had them on the at home Patrick Mahomes had to come to Baltimore and they just didn't get it done. Kyle, we were talking about this off camera before we started the show. Continuity and familiarity is a real thing. You need to have that to have a long run in the playoffs. And when you look at this Ravens team, there's a lot of overturn. Let's start with their defensive side. They lose their defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald. He becomes a head coach in Seattle. Jadeveon Clowney was number two in sacks on his team. Geno Stone led them in interceptions. He's not with the rival team in the Cincinnati Bengals. So when you talk about the overturn of this team and then Kyle's position, the offensive line, you know having the same group of guys really helps that rhythm on offense. They lose three starters on the offensive line. So tone setters exactly exactly John Simpson you talk about Morgan Moses. So losing three of the starters on the offensive line I feel like is going to be a struggle for them now. They're going to be a really good team because that's what John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson do. But I felt like last year was their year to go win the Super Bowl. I mean, you talk about continuity. The one thing they did have continuity in was that middle of the field second level of the defense, a guy by the name of Roquan Smith. So if they do have a chance at keeping this thing together defensively, it's through Roquan his leadership the violence with which he plays the game of football. But at the end of the day you have to be able to go out and beat the best. And if that means going on the road so be it. Patrick Mahomes had to do it in Baltimore. This AFC is too loaded. I think they're going to have to make a really, really historic run to make it back to the Super Bowl. Vegas thinks this is a tight game. Which side are you guys on Kyle you can start us off. Chiefs. Chiefs can ask the chief. It's Arrowhead Stadium. They lost last year's week one against the Detroit Lions. They hated the taste that was in their mouth. They do not want that again I'm going to take the Ravens plus three. You're giving me three points with the Ravens I mean and Lamar Jackson against the spread as an underdog is just ridiculous. He's 13 and one against the spread when he's an underdog. When you look at what they've also done the Ravens they are seven and one straight up and against the spread in the last eight week one games. And then look at Lamar Jackson as a starter four and one straight up and five. And oh against the spread in the last five games as a road dog Kyle this game kind of reminds me of that game last year when the Ravens had to travel all the way to the West Coast on Christmas Day in Santa Clara versus the 40 niners. Everybody, even myself, thought the 40 niners were going to boatrace them. Well, the opposite happened. The Ravens boat race, the 40 Niners. I'm not saying the boat race, the Chiefs, but you're giving me three points with Lamar Jackson. You see it right there on the graphic. The guy does not lose against the spread as an underdog. Give me the Ravens and the points baby. All right. It's all coming up tonight with the season opener. Thanks to Lisa and Kyle and getting ready for the CBS portion of the NFL. Sunday is coming soon. Streaming on Paramount Plus. Key games include Arizo and B