Battle of AFC stars with Mahomes & Jackson
Leave it to Sammy Watkins — who has played for both teams recently — to set the stage for this weekend’s Ravens-Chiefs matchup.
Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson can downplay it all they want, but this game is first and foremost a clash between two MVP quarterbacks.
“I think those guys definitely view it that way,” said Watkins, now a receiver for Baltimore. “You can say you’re not, but the world is watching two of the best, youngest MVPs in the league, and very talented guys. I’m definitely looking at it that way. Like, man, Lamar needs to win.”
This is the fourth straight season Baltimore and Kansas City will face off, and Jackson has yet to beat Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Baltimore quarterback is 30-5 as a starter in the regular season against everybody else.
The Ravens will be at home for Sunday night’s game, but Kansas City won 34-20 at Baltimore last year, and the Chiefs have 11 straight regular-season road victories overall.
“When two good teams play each other, there’s always going to be a lot of hype and a lot of buildup to the game,” Mahomes said. “Seeing Lamar and all the success that he’s had with that team, you know two of the top teams in the AFC, so we’re going to have to battle every year it seems like in the playoffs or whenever it is.”
The Ravens still have to show they can measure up against Kansas City — and now there’s added pressure on Baltimore, which is trying to avoid an 0-2 start. The
Ravens dropped their opener for the first time since 2015, losing 33-27 in overtime at Las Vegas on Monday night.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, haven’t lost in the month of September since 2016. Mahomes is 11-0 in September as a starter, with 35 touchdown passes and no interceptions in those games.
UPBEAT BOYS
DeMarcus Lawrence likely won’t play until November with a broken foot, fellow starting defensive end Randy Gregory probably will be sidelined this week by COVID-19 and right tackle La’el Collins’ fivegame suspension is just beginning.
If it’s feeling like 2020 all over again for the Dallas Cowboys, when Dak Prescott’s broken ankle headlined several key injuries on offense, the star quarterback doesn’t want go to there.
“We’re not going to sit here and think about last year and try to compare the two or worry about going down that slope,” Prescott said Thursday, a day after Lawrence was injured in practice. “That was then, this is now. We know we have to get better with what we’ve got.”
It was a steep slope last year, when Prescott’s three most important offensive linemen didn’t play together because of various injuries and Blake Jarwin, the tight end they had just committed to financially, was lost for the season in the opener with a knee injury.
The Cowboys finished 6-10 in coach Mike McCarthy’s Dallas debut. This time, their bad news on personnel has mushroomed since an encouraging opener. Dallas lost at defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay 31-29 on a last-second field goal.
Besides Lawrence, Gregory and Collins, a fourth starter from that game, receiver Michael Gallup, will spend at least three weeks on injured reserve after straining a calf against the Buccaneers.
Dallas (0-1) visits the Los Angeles Chargers (1-0) on Sunday, and reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert awaits. Behind Gregory and Lawrence, the other five currently active defensive ends have a total of 10 career sacks. Tarell Basham, a fifth-year player signed as a free agent from the New York Jets, has 7½ of them. The rash of injuries even took down one of the coaches. Assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett, who played on the Super Bowl-winning teams of the 1990s in Dallas, tore a quad muscle Wednesday when he got caught up in a blocking sled. Lett had surgery, as did Lawrence.
“The reality of it is, this is how it goes year in and year out,” McCarthy said. “It’s just a matter of how many. As I’ve stated, the injuries are so personal to the individual. But in the team concept and the team environment, we’re focused on who’s the next guy up, the opportunities.”
The Cowboys could be without a fifth starter from the opener if safety Donovan Wilson can’t recover from a groin injury that has kept him out of practice so far this week. The other starter at safety, Damontae Kazee, was added to the injury report Thursday with a thigh issue.