Getty Kansas City Chiefs DT called the Baltimore Ravens the best team in the league
After the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII, one of their stars gave some surprising praise to the Baltimore Ravens.
During a post-game interview with the NFL Network’s Michael Robinson, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said that the Ravens were the best team in the league.
Jones said, “I think we faced the best team in the league in (the) Baltimore Ravens, hands down.”
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Before losing to the Chiefs in the AFC title game, it was a title that the Ravens could make a strong case for thanks to an impressive 2023 regular season.
The Best Regular Season Team
There’s no debating that the Ravens were the best team in football during the 2023 regular season.
The team entered the playoffs with the best record in football.
They got there with a defense that allowed the least points in the NFL. That defense included a pass rush that led the league in sacks.
The offense was almost as impressive. They finished fourth in the league in scoring.
The team had six All-Pros, which was the third-most in the league. They had the NFL’s MVP on their roster in quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Most impressively, the team was incredibly good against the best opposition. They beat the Lions by 32 points early in the year. They beat the 49ers by 14 in Week 16. They demolished the Dolphins in Week 17 to secure the AFC’s top seed, winning by 37.
That success even carried over into their first playoff game of the year. The Ravens looked rusty in the first half against the Texans and were tied at 10 going into halftime.
The Ravens scored 24 unanswered points in the second half to secure their spot in the AFC Championship Game.
Unfortunately, their impressive run came to a disappointing end there.
Where it Went Wrong for the Ravens
In the AFC Championship Game, there were a few obvious things that stood out as reasons for the Ravens loss.
The first was the complete abandonment of the run game.
The Ravens’ offense has been built around their ability to run since Jackson was drafted and that was expected to be something that gave them an edge against the Chiefs.
They bafflingly only handed the ball off eight times and two of them went to wide receiver Zay Flowers.
It made the offense too one-dimensional and put a major strain on the passing game against a defense that had defended the pass well all year.
The next was bad penalties.
The Ravens were penalized eight times in the game for a total of 95 yards.
Those penalties included a defensive holding on the play before the Chiefs’ first touchdown.
They also included a pair of personal fouls at the end of the first half that helped the Chiefs get a field goal before halftime.
On a promising drive in the third quarter, Mark Andrews was called for a hold that pushed the Ravens out of field goal range and led to a punt.
Later in the quarter, Flowers was called for taunting after a 54-yard catch had gotten the Ravens down to the Chiefs’ 10-yard line.
That led to the team’s other big issue. They had too many costly turnovers.
Flowers went on to fumble at the goal line a few plays after his penalty.
On the Ravens’ next drive they worked their way down the field from their own one-yard line to the Chiefs’ 25. Jackson threw into triple coverage in the end zone and was intercepted, ending another promising drive.
Jackson also fumbled in the first half, but the defense was able to keep the Chiefs from turning the turnover into points.
In the end the Ravens lost 17-10, sending the Chiefs on their way their fourth Super Bowl in five years.
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