Why Kansas City still isn’t afraid of Baltimore even as Ravens improve to 7-3

The Baltimore Ravens responded and recovered from a rough first half to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 35-34 in a wild game. Thursday night football game. This high-powered Ravens offense was held to just seven points in the first half, but later exploded for 28 points to pull off a big win. At 7-3, they could jump into first place in the AFC North depending on the outcome of the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 10 matchup.

This game showed how dangerous Baltimore can be. Their attack seemed stagnant, but woke up in an instant. They were able to score 35 points despite their top two receivers, Zay Flowers and Diontae Johnson, combining for five catches and 40 yards.

This kind of offensive display gives NFL fans reason to believe that Baltimore can challenge any team in the AFC – even the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs. While that shouldn’t be completely ruled out, Chiefs fans shouldn’t fear Baltimore even after the Ravens’ big win.

They won and their offense is a machine, but can we talk about this defense? Well over halfway through the season, things still look suspect at best, and the secondary in particular remains a problem.

The Ravens had Joe Burrow throw for 426 yards and four passing touchdowns. Ja’Marr Chase had a whopping 264 receiving yards and three touchdowns. What should have been a comfortable win given the way the offense played turned out to be too close for comfort, thanks in large part to the secondary. As Zac Taylor better guided or the refs I haven’t missed a single late callthe Bengals could have easily won it too.

Yes, Kyle Hamilton’s injury affected things, and new addition Tre’Davious White didn’t play, but this secondary was arguably the worst in the NFL even before this game with Hamilton in it. Does the addition of a Tre’Davious White from the past really change much?

Through the first ten weeks of the season, the Ravens ranked last in the NFL, giving up 294.9 passing yards per game. That’s more than 30 yards worse per play than what the 2-7 Jacksonville Jaguars allow. Their offense is great, but can this team really make a deep playoff run if their defense is repeatedly torched like this?

The Chiefs will have a tough job slowing down Baltimore’s prolific offense, but they have allowed just 18.4 points per game this season — good for fourth in the NFL at the time of writing. Is anyone going to question Steve Spagnuolo’s defense at this point?

The Chiefs offense hasn’t exactly torched the league so far this season, but they have looked better in recent weeks. New signing DeAndre Hopkins just had his breakout game in their Week 9 win. Are we going to assume that Patrick Mahomes won’t torch a very beatable defense in the playoffs? Haven’t we seen him do that over and over again?

The Ravens are great and have the offense to win. However, the Chiefs have one of the best defenses in the league. They’ve already beaten Baltimore this season, thanks in large part to their defense, and there’s no reason to think their offense wouldn’t put up big numbers against Baltimore’s defense.