Get ready for a week of megahype for what looks to be a classic divisional playoff game between Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens and Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills. MVP frontrunner vs. MVP frontrunner. Jackson and Allen are each two wins away from their first trip to the Super Bowl. One problem, though: After slugging it out in Buffalo next weekend, the winner’s reward is likely a road game vs. the well-rested Kansas City Chiefs.
Nothing is guaranteed, but the two-time defending Super Bowl champs will be heavy favorites in their divisional playoff game vs. the Houston Texans. Houston looked solid in its wild-card win Saturday over the Los Angeles Chargers, but that was just the Texans’ second win this season vs. a playoff team in seven tries. The Texans were 0-3 on the road vs. playoff teams — and that includes a 27-19 loss to the Chiefs three weeks ago.
In that Week 16 contest, Patrick Mahomes passed for 260 yards and Kansas City rushed for 128 yards. Running back Isiah Pacheco only had nine carries in that game, which was just his fourth game back from the IR after suffering a fractured fibula in Week 2. With the extra rest the Chiefs have had — with the luxury of resting their starters in Week 18 after clinching the No. 1 seed and then having a first-round bye — Pacheco could be ready to make a bigger impact.
Unless there’s a shocking upset in the Texans-Chiefs game, the winner of a showdown between the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and the Bills’ Josh Allen will be going to Kansas City to play Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC title game.
Tommy Gilligan (Jackson)/Tina MacIntyre-Yee (Allen)/Charles LeClaire (Mahomes) – USA TODAY Network
On the other side of the ball, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo having extra time to prepare for an opponent does not bode well for C.J. Stroud and the Texans. And it doesn’t help that Houston’s leading receiver in the Week 16 meeting, Tank Dell, suffered a season-ending knee injury in that game.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been around the block enough and his team is experienced enough to stay focused on the next game and not overlook the Texans. Still, they’ve got to feel good about the idea that Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen will be locked up in a heavyweight bout next week. Jackson accounted for 45 total touchdowns (41 passing, four rushing) and Allen accounted for 40 (28 passing, 12 rushing). While Saquon Barkley and maybe even Joe Burrow will get some MVP votes, most observers expect Jackson and Allen to finish 1-2. Jackson might be favored but it’s close.
The Ravens enjoyed a surprisingly easy 35-10 home victory over the Bills in a Week 4 Monday night game. It’s hard to imagine the rematch in Buffalo won’t be much closer.
“This is what everyone’s been waiting for, right?” said Bills head coach Sean McDermott after Sunday’s 31-7 rout of the Denver Broncos. “They’re a great football team. They handled us pretty good the first go-around. They’re certainly playing well. Well coached. … It’ll be a big challenge for us.”
As good as Jackson and Allen have been this season — and as shaky as the Chiefs have looked sometimes despite their 15-2 record — the winner of Ravens-Bills will have to recover quickly from their divisional playoff rumble and prepare for the probability that they need to vanquish the two-time defending champs in Arrowhead Stadium.
Jackson and Allen also have history to overcome. The regular-season MVP has only won the Super Bowl once this century. Of course, that was Mahomes in 2022. The Chiefs’ quarterback will be nowhere near Jackson and Allen in the MVP voting this year. But the road to Super Bowl LIX still goes through Kansas City.
