KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — If anyone can commiserate with the Kansas City Chiefs on the difficult start they've endured this season, it just might be their opponent on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium: the Baltimore Ravens.
Two of the best teams in the AFC. Two teams accustomed to playing for the top seed in the playoffs. Two marquee quarterbacks, two of the league's premier coaches, and two teams with superstars on both sides of the ball.
Two teams that are 1-2 through the first three weeks of the season, too.
The Chiefs finally picked up their first win when they beat the Giants last week, after close losses to the Chargers in Brazil and the Eagles in a Super Bowl rematch. The Ravens lost a nailbiter to the Bills in Week 1, rebounded to beat the Browns, then gave up 17 points in the fourth quarter of a 38-30 loss to the Lions on Monday night.
“Nobody's playing perfect football. It's early in the season,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “We're playing some good football teams. That's a good thing, because that forces you to be your best. You can't worry too much about any kind of record or anything like that at this point. It's a long season. A lot of games to be played. But what kind of team we become is really the important thing right now, and that's really what we're focused on.”
That's easy to say now. Might be a whole lot tougher should the Ravens be 1-3 by Sunday night.
Then again, the Chiefs could be staring at the same fate. They haven't lost three of their first four games in a decade, though in that case they bounced back from a 1-5 start in 2015 to run off 10 straight wins to finish the regular season, and added a playoff win over the Texans before finally losing again to the Patriots in the divisional round.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who wasn't even in the league yet back then, thinks that kind of turnaround has already started this season. Kansas City muddled through a pedestrian first half in New York last Sunday but hit its stride for the first time all season in the second half, ultimately pulling away for a 22-9 victory at the Meadowlands.
“Obviously there's things here and there we have to work on,” said Mahomes, who will have wide receiver Xavier Worthy back for the first time since Week 1, “but more than anything, the guys are putting in the work during the week.”
The Ravens and Chiefs are accustomed to playing games with high stakes, such as that 17-10 victory by Kansas City in the AFC title game in January 2024. And while there are still plenty of games left in the season, given the precarious record that both are carrying into Sunday's game, the stakes seem just as high as ever for their Week 4 matchup.
“You can’t bring what happened back whenever to this year. We’ve just have to lock in on what’s ahead right now,” Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson said. "Just getting better in practice, watching film on those guys, watching ourselves and scouting ourselves and just get after it come Sunday.”
The Chiefs acquired DeAndre Hopkins midway through last year, when they were thin at wide receiver, and he helped them reach the Super Bowl. Now with the Ravens, the erstwhile star has caught two TD passes already this season.
Ravens running back Derrick Henry looked vintage in Week 1 against Buffalo, when he ran for 169 yards and two scores. But he has been less effective since a big fumble late in that game. Henry has 73 yards rushing total the past two weeks, and he has put the ball on the ground in both of those games as well.
“I don’t try to harp on it too much,” Henry said of the fumbles. “At the same time, it’s a problem that’s got to be fixed.”
The Chiefs finally got their running game going in the second half against the Giants, and for the first time this season, Mahomes did not finish as their leading rusher. Isiah Pacheco ran 10 times for 45 yards and Kareem Hunt scored a touchdown.
The Ravens have struggled to stop the run this season, and it won't get any easier given the number of injuries they are dealing with up front. Defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike was ruled out early in the week with a neck injury, and linebacker Kyle Van Noy (hamstring) and defensive linemen Broderick Washington (ankle) and Travis Jones (knee) missed practice time.
Kansas City could be its healthiest since Week 1. Defensive end Mike Danna (quad), cornerback Kristian Fulton (ankle) and Worthy (shoulder) all returned to practice this week. The return of Worthy, who got hurt running into Travis Kelce in Week 1, could be an especially big lift for an offense that is still missing suspended wide receiver Rashee Rice.
“He feels good," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “so we'll see how it goes.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
