The Chiefs' DEFENSE was the story of the game! - Booger McFarland | NFL Primetime

Summary

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship to advance to the Super Bowl and defend their title. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes praised his team's resilience and mindset after a season of adversity. Mahomes made a key late pass to receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling to seal the win. The Chiefs relied on strong defensive play and smart offensive game planning from coach Andy Reid to limit the dynamic Ravens offense. Mahomes continues his exceptional playoff success, while Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was hurt by costly mistakes. The veteran Chiefs confidently overcame doubts and are headed back to the Super Bowl seeking a repeat championship.

Takeaways

• 😊 The Chiefs defeated the Ravens 27-20 in the AFC divisional playoff game to advance to the Super Bowl.
• 👏 Patrick Mahomes had a great performance, making clutch throws like the touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.
• ⚡ The Chiefs relied more on their quick passing game rather than their usual explosive offense.
• 😤 The Chiefs defense played outstanding, limiting the Ravens offense with an excellent game plan by Steve Spagnuolo.
• 👍 Andy Reid and the Chiefs coaches had a great complementary game plan on both offense and defense.
• 🏈 The Chiefs took away the Ravens strength up the middle and forced them outside.
• 🤔 Lamar Jackson struggled when the Ravens had to come from behind.
• 🧠 The Ravens and coach John Harbaugh need to work on playing from behind in the offseason.
• 🏆 The resilient Chiefs are heading back to the Super Bowl to defend their championship.
• 😢 The Ravens had a great season but came up short against the defending champion Chiefs.

Q & A

What was the final score of the Chiefs vs Ravens playoff game?

The final score was Chiefs 20, Ravens 3.

What was significant about the Chiefs only scoring 17 points against the Ravens defense?

The Ravens had a great defense this season, but the Chiefs were still able to win while scoring far below their season average by relying more on their own defense and playing complementary football.

How does Patrick Mahomes' early playoff success compare to other great quarterbacks?

Mahomes has a 14-3 record so far in his playoff career, which is the second best winning percentage for a quarterback with at least 10 postseason starts. Only Bart Starr had a better record to start his playoff career.

What adjustments did the Chiefs make on offense to counter the strength of the Ravens defense?

They focused more on getting the ball to the outside to avoid the strength of the Ravens defense up the middle with players like Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen. They also used short, quick passes to convert third downs.

How did the Chiefs defense stifle the Ravens offense?

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo used a similar game plan to what the Texans used effectively against the Ravens earlier this season. The Chiefs have better personnel in the secondary to cover receivers, allowing them to blitz Lamar Jackson more.

What does Travis Kelce attribute the Chiefs' success to this season?

He credits the team's camaraderie and ability to come together after facing adversity early in the season. He also emphasizes that their job is not done yet.

What did Lamar Jackson say the Ravens need to work on during the offseason?

He admitted they need more practice playing from behind. They were unaccustomed to trailing in games this season, so were not as prepared in this game when put in that position.

What coaching advantage did the Chiefs have in this game?

Andy Reid and his staff put together an excellent game plan tailored specifically to limit what the Ravens do best. The Ravens offense seemed unprepared to adjust.

How did the Chiefs change their offensive approach late in the regular season?

After losing to the Raiders in Week 18, they committed more to just doing whatever necessary to win games rather than trying to match their high-flying identity from previous seasons.

What does Lamar Jackson need to work on over the offseason to take the next step as a quarterback?

He and the Ravens coaching staff admitted he needs more work playing from behind in games and in making throws into tight coverage.

Outlines

00:00

🏈 Chiefs defeat Ravens, advance to Super Bowl

Paragraph 1 summarizes the Chiefs' 17-20 victory over the Ravens in the AFC Championship game. It describes key plays like Mahomes' pass to MVS and discusses Mahomes' historical playoff performance. The paragraph also includes interviews with Chiefs players Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes about advancing to the Super Bowl.

05:02

🧠 Coaching and game plans lead Chiefs to victory

Paragraph 2 analyzes the coaching and game plans that enabled the Chiefs' win. It looks at defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's strategy to contain the Ravens offense. The paragraph also examines the Chiefs' offensive approach of avoiding the Ravens' strengths up the middle and attacking the edges. Finally, it contrasts the Chiefs' ability to adapt with the Ravens' struggles adjusting when trailing.

Keywords

💡Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the teams playing in the AFC Championship game. They end up winning the game against the Baltimore Ravens to advance to the Super Bowl to defend their championship from last year. The Chiefs and their offense, led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are able to make enough plays to get the win.

💡Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens are the other team playing in the AFC Championship game. They lose to the Chiefs, ending their season. The Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson struggle on offense against the Chiefs defense, only scoring 3 points the entire game.

💡Defense

Both teams boast strong defenses, but the Chiefs defense ultimately plays better by containing the dangerous Ravens offense. The Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo draws up an effective game plan to slow down the Ravens.

💡Quarterbacks

The matchup features two star quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs and Lamar Jackson for the Ravens. Mahomes plays well enough for the Chiefs to win, while Jackson struggles against the tough Chiefs defense.

💡Game plan

The Chiefs coaching staff, especially defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, devise game plans that allow their teams to match up well against the Ravens' strengths. This good coaching is a key factor in the Chiefs' victory.

💡Touchdown

The Chiefs score two touchdowns in their 17-point effort, which is enough combined with their defense to lead them to victory. One touchdown pass goes to Travis Kelce, Mahomes' top target.

💡Takeaways

An important stat is that the Ravens commit no turnovers, while their defense cannot force any takeaways from Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. So the Ravens lose the turnover battle 0 to 0.

💡Third down

The Chiefs excel at keeping the Ravens defense guessing on third downs by mixing up their play calls to keep drives going.

💡Offense vs Defense

The matchup sees the Chiefs' offense facing the tough Ravens defense, and vice versa. The Chiefs offense does just enough to get the win, while their defense stifles the usually potent Ravens offense.

💡Super Bowl

By winning the AFC Championship, the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons. They now have a chance to win back-to-back Super Bowls.

Highlights

Mahomes trusted his receiver MVS in one-on-one coverage for a big play touchdown

Kelce: "It feels good to be at this point, but we got one more"

Mahomes has gone to 4 Super Bowls in his first 6 years

Kelce: "You don't take [Super Bowls] for granted"

Kansas City defense played outstanding and was the story of the game

Spags had a great defensive game plan akin to what Houston did earlier this season

Kansas City kept 3rd downs manageable to convert and put themselves in advantageous situations

Chiefs caught passes to the outside to avoid the strength of the Ravens defense up the middle

Chiefs realized they had to adjust from their early season identity to win playoff games

The Chiefs ran into the champion Ravens team and prevailed

Lamar Jackson will have to improve throwing from the pocket in offseason

Ravens only scored 17 points but Chiefs adjusted their identity to just win

Lamar and Ravens offense need to learn to play from behind better next season

Mahomes has gone to 4 Super Bowls in just 6 seasons

Ravens had a great season but ran into red hot Chiefs team

Transcripts

and you talked to Mahomes he knew they

were coming cover zero allout Blitz

one-on-one coverage momes trusted his

receiver mvs in oneone coverage great

play by Marquez Valdez scantling ah the

the kiss seen around the world the

trophy the Lamar Hunt trophy stays

fittingly in Kansas City to the Chagrin

of the Ravens the Kansas City Chiefs and

the Baltimore Ravens who brought their

defense neither got the 20 but the

Chiefs are moving on to the Super Bowl

where they have a chance to defend and

go back to back and the Ravens wonderful

season has come to a close now you

wonder Patrick Mahomes in history look

his history is is early here right he's

14 and three in the playoffs 10 or more

postseason starts that's the second best

percentage as we stand now Bart Star by

the way lost the first one one won the

next nine and everyone except Jim plunet

who was great uh is in the Hall of Fame

here who is retired and you see Terry

Troy Tom Joe pretty good list the

Patrick Mahomes is almost first on Jeff

Darlington with Travis

Kelsey Travis another Super Bowl in a

year that perhaps to some felt like the

unlikeliest chance that you guys had

what do you say about

that the Chiefs are still the Chiefs

baby and damn it feels good to be on

this team man there's a lot of

camaraderie on this team man a lot of uh

we had to really circle the wagons and

man it feels good to be at this point

but we got one more I want to call it

the Travis Kelce era but it also is the

Patrick Mahomes era he has gone do four

Super Bowls in his first six years what

can you say about your quarterback the

best in the the best in the world baby

you can't say enough great things about

Pat and no better than that last throw

right there to Marquez and man it's it

was great to see him show up and and

make sure just quiet at all the haters

baby you don't take it for granted

either um you never know how many you're

going to get to um if or if you're going

to get to any um and so it truly is

special um just to do it with these guys

after what we've been through all season

long guys coming together um it really

is special but uh I told him I mean the

job's not done I mean our job now is to

prepare ourselves to play a good

football team in the Super Bowl and try

to get that ring did you think you broke

the plane at the goal

line

um yeah yeah I thought I did H but you

know I learned from my mistakes coach

going give his speech you know that's

his job but we mad you know we we got

the disposition one game away from the

Super Bowl that we all well what I've

been talking about my team been talking

about all season we fell short and like

I said offense we didn't put nothing on

the board we scored once that's not like

us you know we drove the ball down the

field that's cool but we got to put

points on the board but I feel like my

team just angry you know not frustrated

we just angry because we know how hard

we worked to get

here well there's lots to dissect here

let let's start with the coaches for The

Chiefs this isn't news that Andy Reid

and Steve Spagnola defensive coordinator

and the staff their game plans on both

sides I know they only had 17 points if

you will but this is the lowest scoring

defense Baltimore their game plan was

also complimentary football because they

knew if they could get some sort of lead

yeah Lamar has not trailed by more which

is unbelievable to the credit of

Baltimore has not tra by more than seven

all year so could you get a lead then it

was 7 seven but a lead they never they

were tied but they never trailed and

what would Baltimore do not that anybody

shook Under Pressure right but they

haven't practiced it to their credit

coming from behind and

playing and it looked like at times I

wish we have more practice at this is

that fair to say it's it's a very fair

thing to say boom because not only has

you not practiced it the coaches hadn't

called plays that's right and when you

look at at at how the Kansas City

defense played the Baltimore Ravens to

me that was the story of the game

defensive coordinator St spago against

Tai monin in the Baltimore Raven offense

and I thought spags was absolutely

outstanding I thought this game plan by

spags the defensive coordinator of the

Chiefs was akin to the game plan that

Deo Ryan from the Houston Texans used

and spag simply said this I have better

players in my secondary so I can cover

Baltimore in the back end I can cover Z

flowers I can cover Odell Beckham I can

cover Nelson agular and if we put that

same type pressure that Houston put on

Baltimore in the first half where Bal

more than have any success we did the

same thing and so I thought it was a

great game plan and that defense played

outstanding and it's been the strength

of their team all year and it was today

you can't really get a book on okay he's

bringing five or six but we don't

exactly know which down and which

situation yes exactly for Baltimore

which my God they're defense is great

but Kansas City knew Boer that if they

kept it they'll bring pressure on Third

and six seven a lot of times but on

third and four three not so much and in

the first half Kansas City kept their

third Downs manageable I thought well no

doubt about it and and and what they did

by keeping those third Downs manageable

is they were able to convert boom able

to convert third Downs they put

themselves in advantageous situation

Andy Reid caught a great game from an

offensive standpoint and Patrick Mahomes

the ball was coming out of his hands

quick so when the ball is third and four

third and five you can throw short

passes and they did that all game a part

of it was in in the very first look the

Ravens defense there tons of great

players there but the best is up the

Middle where normally hard to run on and

of course ran Smith and Patrick Queen in

the midd so where do you go at least out

of the gates on the outside a little bit

and I thought the Chiefs did that at

least for their touchdown drive to start

and these are the three guys that have

been catching it the best dare we say

more that's Pacho now the quick screen

outside to Rashid rice and then the

touchdown what you saw earlier was again

they only got 177 points but let's keep

it away from the Middle with where

they're the best and look Kyle

Hamilton's great theough he had to you

know man up on on Travis Kelce but that

was the touchdown to Kelsey and they

were moving the CH it was complimentary

football we're not going to get 31

points on the ring no and to your point

boom it's coaching I'm I'm going to what

does Bill bich always say I'm going to

take away what the opposing team does

best and make them play left-handed I'm

not going to run the football at roquan

and Patrick queen I'm going to run away

from them and get the ball on the

outside where I can use my advantage

with Pacho with r with Kelsey just a

really good job of coaching by the

chiefs no and it wasn't look the Ravens

said that but look they gave up only 17

points right but but look the Chiefs had

a they lost to the Raiders with two

games left in the regular season we said

it on this show they finally realized

we're not them meaning who we think we'd

like to be and have been we're this yes

and they've now won two regular season

and three playoff games in a row and

they're going to the Super Bowl because

Patrick Mahomes is thrown for 240 yards

so what

we're winning right and for Baltimore

nothing to be ashamed of I know they're

down Lamar and the Ravens made such huge

St like this is a confident and a

together team but they ran into the

champion it is Lamar is going to have to

go back in the off season the throw he

made in the triple coverage Todd monin

and their inability to make plays in

certain situations he Todd monin called

a bad game for Lamar Lamar didn't play

well they're going to have to go back

this offseason and say how can we play

all season a certain way and we got in

this game and we went a different R

right yeah three playoff wins no

turnovers momes pretty

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

good