By AJ Olona

Monday, Sept. 28 at 8:15 p.m. ET

ESPN

SPREAD: Ravens, -3.5

Monday Night Football brings us a much talked about matchup to close out this week. In Week 3 of the 2020 NFL season, we are treated to a game that has the last two MVP’s battling it out as the reigning Super Bowl Champions the Kansas City Chiefs take on Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Both the Chiefs and Ravens are still undefeated to this point in the season but only one will walk out of this one still with a clean record

Kansas City Chiefs

Despite sitting at 2-0, there is reason to be questioning the Kansas City Chiefs. In Week 1, they were able to get a win over the Houston Texans in what many believed was a good matchup at the time. However, since then the Houston Texans have lost two more games and now sit at the bottom of the league at 0-3. The win over the Texans looks a lot less impressive than it did two weeks ago. In Week 2, the Chiefs were barely able to squeeze out a win in overtime over the Los Angeles Chargers. The bizarre circumstances surrounding that game may have allowed the Chargers to have somewhat of an advantage. The Chiefs must have spent the entire week preparing to face Tyrod Taylor and found themselves playing against rookie Justin Herbert instead at the very last minute. The Chargers look like a very bad team this year, offensively. It was very surprising to see it take 5 quarters for the Chiefs to barely win against them. After two unconvincing wins so far, this is the first true test that this Chiefs team faces on the year.

Since we are so used to Patrick Mahomes putting up ridiculous numbers to this point in his career, it is understandable to be a bit underwhelmed by his play so far in 2020. That is not to say that Patrick Mahomes has been bad, because he simply hasn’t been. The Chiefs have done such a great job putting so much talent around Mahomes that he does not have to carry the entire team by himself. In Week 1, he was able to sit back and hand the ball of the rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and only take what the offense was giving him. In Week 2, Mahomes was tasked with doing a bit more for his offense as he threw the ball 47 times and was the team's leading rusher. Despite throwing the ball 47 times, Mahomes only completed 27 of those throws for 302 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the year, Mahomes has 5 touchdowns and no turnovers. Again, Mahomes has not been bad this year but he has not played like the highest paid athlete in sports history.

Going into this game, the Chiefs will need more from Clyde Edwards-Helaire to play like he did in Week 1. While Patrick Mahomes is good enough to take over the game and carry the offense, the Ravens defense is too good to let that happen. If things come down to Patrick Mahomes vs. the Ravens defense, things are not going to be pretty. The Chiefs will need to be a well rounded offense to be able to keep up in this game.

Baltimore Ravens

After a very decisive 32 point win in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns, it seemed like the Baltimore Ravens did not miss a step from 2019. In that game, The Ravens were able to score at will without having to do too much. Lamar Jackson only had to throw the ball 25 times in that game and had a near perfect QBR. The Ravens rushing offense in that game was up and down. Lamar Jackson was the team's leading rusher as the team is still trying to figure out their backfield rotation. The following week was much of the same story as the Ravens took down the Houston Texans, winning by 17 points. In that game, Lamar Jackson was asked to do even less. He only had to throw the ball 24 times as the Ravens had more success running the ball. Everyone in the Ravens backfield was able to get things going. This Ravens offense has shown early in 2020 that they are able to get it done in so many different ways. They are finding a lot of success because of the way that their defense is playing.

The Ravens defense is allowing only 305 yards per game heading into this matchup, which ranks 4th in the league. They are allowing only 210 y passing yards a game as well as only 94.5 rushing yards per game. On top of that, the Ravens are holding their opponents to only 11 points per game. Don't expect that same success to carry over going into Week 4 though. Patrick Mahomes and this Kansas City offense will be able to put up some points. For the Baltimore Ravens to be successful in this one, and remain undefeated on the season, they are going to have to be able to keep the Chiefs offense in check. This could very well end up being a low scoring game as the defenses take over.

Prediction

It may be a tad bit surprising to see the Baltimore Ravens favored in this matchup as many had believed the Chiefs unbeatable heading into the season. However, as we have seen early on in this young season, it is possible to take down Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. This game is undoubtedly going to come down to which team has the better defense. With two prolific throwers on each side of the football, one of the defenses is going to have to step up and take control of this game. So far this year, the Ravens defense has been elite once again. They may have what it takes to push Patrick Mahomes to the limits on Monday Night so do not expect this game to be a shoot out whatsoever.

SHAWN’S PREDICTION: Chiefs 38 - 35

AJ’S PREDICTION: Ravens 30 - 24

DAGEN’S PREDICTION: Chiefs 28 - 17

JAKE’S PREDICTION: Chiefs 35 - 24

CADE’S PREDICTION: Ravens 42 - 14

TIMOTHY’S PREDICTION: Chiefs 30 - 28

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