The Kansas City Chiefs are accustomed to high-stakes meetings with the Baltimore Ravens.
While Kansas City has won the last two matchups — both decided by just a touchdown — the two AFC heavyweights are set to collide again on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday. And with both teams entering the Week 4 matchup staring at the possibility of a 1-3 start, the urgency of the game is clear.
Kansas City’s defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo sees Baltimore’s offense as one of the NFL’s toughest
challenges.
“They can dictate the game by being two-dimensional the whole game,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter the down and distance. They’ll run it when you’re supposed to throw it — and throw it when you’re supposed to run it. They got the guys that can do it.”
That unpredictability begins with quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has opened the season in elite fashion. Through three games, Jackson has thrown for 722 yards (and a league-best nine touchdown passes) while completing 72% of his attempts. That’s third-best among quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts. He’s also added 118 rushing yards and a score on the ground, reminding defenses he’s still the league’s most dangerous dual threat.
That’s why Kansas City defensive backs coach Dave Merritt emphasizes maintaining discipline in the secondary when facing the Ravens’ quarterback.
“When you’re dealing with a guy like Lamar, we use the word ‘plaster,’” Merritt explained on Thursday. “So when he starts scrambling, if you have a guy in your area, you need to start connecting to your man and stay with him. Let the pass rushers rush Lamar and let the underneath zone defenders close in on him. But if you’re the secondary guy — [the] umbrella guy — you need to grab a guy and plaster.”
Veteran defensive tackle Chris Jones also had high praise for the Baltimore quarterback. Jones credited Jackson for becoming one of the league’s most complete passers.
“Stopping Lamar is one thing,” he said. “Trying to contain him is another. Over the years, you look [at] how prolific as a passer he’s become. I think he’s completing 70% of his passes, which I think he should have won MVP last year. I have so much respect for him.”
In Week 3, the Detroit Lions may have revealed a formula for beating Jackson, sacking him a career-high seven times in a 38-30 win. Spagnuolo thinks the takeaway from that matchup was clear.
“What stood out to me — just watching the game on TV — was how relentless Detroit was,” Spagnuolo observed. “The effort that their pass rushers put in, I thought, was really good. They found ways to eventually get him on the ground, which is not easy to do.”
But Jackson isn’t the only star for whom the Chiefs’ defense will have to account. The Ravens’ backfield also features Derrick Henry, the All-Pro running back who recorded 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. But while Henry remains one of the most feared runners in football, he’s already fumbled the ball three times this year, losing two of them.
Spagnuolo sees those early-season ball security issues as a potential opening.
“We’ll try to attack the football and get him to put it on the ground,” he said. “…To slow this crew down, somehow, someway, we’re going to have to find a turnover or two in there and give the offense some field position.”
Jones, though, cautioned against expecting mistakes from a player of Henry’s caliber.
“Derrick Henry is one of the best running backs in the league, fumbles or not,” declared Jones. “I think that’s new territory for him. You look over the years, he’s not a big fumbler. So I’m sure he’s working on it this week — and the next few weeks — to make sure he has the ball high and tight.”
Slowing down Jackson and Henry will be the key to Sunday’s matchup. Jones knows it will take a team effort to bring them down by any means necessary.
“Derrick Henry is the same as Lamar,” said Jones. “He can change the dynamic of the game at any point in the game. We’ve got to make sure that not only one person is bringing him down. [We’re] making sure we crowd around him, grabbing him and clawing him — whatever we got to do to get him down.”
