Is the Ravens vs Chiefs Game a MUST Win for Lamar Jackson

all right the time has come it is almost here we are less than 5 hours away from kickoff where the Baltimore Ravens go to Arrowhead to face the two-time defending Champion Kansas City Chiefs and I am pretty sure like most of you all I cannot wait time is not going by fast enough so we can begin the NFL season and see what this iteration of the Baltimore Ravens look like and in talking about the Ravens we have two questions what is on the line for Lamar Jackson going into tonight's game and who is this game more important to is it more important that the Baltimore Ravens win this game or is it more important for the Kansas City Chiefs going into their quest for a third straight NFL Championship now before we look into this game let's talk about the previous matchups that the Ravens had with the chiefs with the Lamar lead Ravens the Baltimore Ravens unfortunately are one and four versus the Chiefs this team seems to be the only hurdle that the Ravens just do not seem to be able to get over and looking into the coaching staff John hobaugh is 12-4 in opening day games where Andy Reid is 9-2 before losing last season to the Detroit Lions the Chiefs had won eight straight opening day games now Lamar Jackson is 4- one in the first game of the season but more importantly Andy Reid versus his disciples he just seems to own them with none of them seeming to be able to win a game versus him during the playoffs so the Ravens winning this game could be a step towards building their confidence and some say that Lamar has to win this game the Ravens have to beat the Chiefs this time to get that monkey off their back to build a psychological Edge to let them know that they can beat this team because if they lose to them tonight will that shake the foundation of the team's belief that they can actually beat Patrick Mahomes now they say that we are living in the Patrick Mahomes era which I can't disagree with because regardless if the Chiefs are good regardless if they're bad if they have discernable weaknesses is they seem to still win titles and me personally I believe if the Ravens actually lose this game it will do nothing to shake Lamar's confidence but as a team as a coaching staff what will it do for them psychologically because undoubtedly we all believe that Kansas City is going to make it to the playoffs and we also believe that the Baltimore Ravens are going to make it there so for the Ravens to actually get over that hump and make it to a Super Bowl they will inevitably have to face the Kansas City Chiefs we cannot expect for other teams in the conference to take out the Chiefs we have to do it ourselves like they say if you want to be the man you have to beat the man and that's what the Ravens are intending to do now if they do lose this game it is just the first game of 17 it does not mean that the season is over it does not mean that things are a failure but starting off 1 and0 would give the Ravens the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record and had to meet in the playoffs and possibly Grant the Ravens the higher seed even though throughout the past few seasons the Ravens playing at home is not a gim for them winning in the playoffs but I do think that when you hold a sizable advantage over a team psychologically it does stuff like they did in the playoffs last year when they came in the mess with Justin Tucker they took the Ravens out of the game before the game even started so for me to beat you five out of six times yes I'm going carry a certain swag about myself I'm going to mention things to you when I pass by you to kind of shake your confidence and maybe have you thinking about other things other than winning this game so I do believe that the Ravens need to come out with the victory tonight which most of us don't think that they will but anything is possible this is the NFL it is a week toe league and as far as what may be on the line it is just Lamar's Legacy they believe that there is only one man that can compete with Patrick Mahomes that being Joe burrow because he has won a couple straight over him and he has defeated him in the playoffs on his way to a Super Bowl so if Lamar wants to start being mentioned in that breath and that vein he has to take out Patrick momes and for me it would be no better time than right now when the Chiefs are at full strength while Patrick Mahomes has a plethora of new toys to play with now this offense is not the offense that it was last year it's supposed to be more explosive they have players now that can take the top off of a defense whose hands are Sher than the ones that preceded them so for all intents and purposes Lamar Jackson doesn't technically need to win this game but it would sure help especially with the Ravens during the first five weeks of the season they have some pretty tough games this season is not going to be a cakewalk they have a first place schedule being that they won the AFC North last year and every win counts everyone gets us closer to the goal of making the playoffs Lamar Jackson said to himself we can't worry about getting to a Super Bowl we have to worry about getting to the playoffs which is not a gimme we all believe that the Ravens and Lamar Jackson are good enough to make the playoffs but it starts with winning that first game or winning their first game shall I say not necessarily the first one that they play in so this could be a building block a stepping stone into getting the Ravens to where we all know that they can go it's just about climbing that mountain taking that edge off and building a belief in the building that you can take the baddest man on the planet and take him down especially with the whole world watching this is the first game of the season this is the only game that is going to be seen tonight so the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson are going to put everything on display so now what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you five key matchups that I believe will dictate or determine what's going to happen in the game the first matchup is newly acquired Derk Henry going up against the Kans City defense the Kansas City defense was its strength last season and is predominantly the reason that they actually won the Super Bowl now we don't know what we're going to get out of Derk Henry we're hoping to get another thousand yard 10 touchdown season we all believe that he is going to be the King Henry of old we just do not know yet we won't know until we see it because during the preseason John Harbaugh does not like to play his starters but but with the Tennessee Titans and a more of an inferior roster Derk Henry has owned the Kansas City Chiefs they just cannot seem to stop him and we shall hope that this trend will continue tonight the second matchup that we're going to look at is the offensive line versus Chris Jones this is a tall task for a offensive line that could possibly have three starters with no or virtually little NFL starting experience Chris Jones is a game record in itself and especially with him having 10 and a half sacks to go along with George kavkas both of those guys it may be an issue so tonight we're going to see what this offensive line can do especially having the starting five played together for the very first time the next matchup is one we may see we may not see but it is going to be speed upon speed upon speed and that is Nate Wiggins going up against Xavier worthy these two were the only two people at the NFL combine to run a sub 4340 Nate Wiggins running a 428 and Xavier worthy running in NFL combine record 421 you know that the Kansas City Chiefs are going to send Xavier worthy deep and we're going to need Wiggins to match up and stay with him step for step all game long because you never know when Patrick Mahomes is going to launch in deep so this matchup of two first round picks may be very pivotal to this game the next matchup is going to be Kyle Hamilton versus Travis Kelce yes that Travis Kelce who talks a lot of smack but he backs it up last season during the playoffs in the AFC Championship Game Kelsey had 11 catches for 816 yards and a touchdown one touchdown that was given up by Kyle Hamilton and I know he's been thinking about this all off season and he is ready to give some payback I'm sure all of his offseason training every time he does a rep he's thinking about Kelsey like yeah I'm going to get him next time and listen Kyle Hamilton was only in his second season and he's going to do nothing but get better so this matchup being that Kelsey is Patrick Mahomes favorite Target may be the most important matchup of all except for the match up at number one which is is Lamar Jackson versus Patrick Mahomes now we don't need Lamar to match Patrick pass for pass yard for yard we do need Lamar to be dynamic make smart plays and do what he does just be the most electrified player in the NFL now during the AFC Championship game last year even though a lot of people like to say they put the team on Lamar's back and he just couldn't get it done Lamar Jackson did outp pass Patrick Mahomes and they both threw one touchdown a piece the only difference in that game happened to be the turnovers so if the Ravens defense can hold Patrick Mahomes down like they did last season hold this Kansas City Chiefs to another 17 points or less the team should be in good shape we just need Lamar to be him we don't need him to try to throw the ball over the field we don't need him to prove to anybody he is a pocket passer we just need Lamar to take what the defense gives them and if he does I do believe undoubtedly that the Ravens are going to blow out the Kansas City Chiefs now of course this is all a lot easier said than it is done but it is possible the only difference that I really see in these two teams is Andy Reid he allows his starters to play a little bit in the preseason to kind of get that cohesion down John hobaugh for fear of injury does not so we don't know collectively what this offense looks like as a whole and if they can shake off the r and come together as a team I don't think there is any team in the NFL that can actually stop them the only team that can beat the Baltimore Ravens is the Baltimore Ravens it's time for me to get back to work so I guess I will see y'all after the game [Music] n man I'm cool