the chief's Quest To Make History finally begins this week as Kansas City takes on Baltimore in a rematch of last year's AFC Championship Game here's what to know about the matchup now this game features the two best defenses in the NFL from last season the Chiefs had the number two scoring defense in the NFL last year behind only Baltimore the Chiefs had the second most sacks in the NFL last year behind only the Ravens kind of goes like that throughout all these categories but one area that Chiefs had the Ravens beat last season was Total Defense that's yards allowed per game the chiefs were number two in the NFL in that category last year behind only Cleveland while Baltimore was sixth these defenses were both consistently dominant as well the Chiefs in particular held opponents under 28 total points in every game last season 21 total games if you include the playoffs that was an NFL record the Ravens were consistent too though they held opponents under 28 total points and all but two games last year now that was last season doesn't matter anymore and defenses can change from year to year but I'd expect both of these groups to be good once again in 2024 there are some changes though that should be noted for the Ravens they lost defensive coordinator Mike McDonald he's now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks they also lost defensive in J Davon Clowney he had nine and a half sacks last year and linebacker Patrick Queen one of their better players but still a lot of good players on this Ravens defense notably defensive tackle Justin matab their leading sacker last year and defensive back Kyle Hamilton one of the top young safeties in the NFL the same can be said for the Chiefs jerus Sneed no longer in town he's now a Tennessee Titan but still if you look at last year's defense and the players that helped make it so good a bunch of young ascending players guys like Trent McDuffy George carus jayen Watson Joshua Williams Brian Cook Leo Chanel that could go on and on these are young players who are ascending and really the mantra for this group during training camp was Deb bet demand better they're not satisfied with what they did last year they want to be better in 2024 and that's exciting if you're a chief fan so even though defenses do change from year to year I expect both of these groups to be very good in 2024 now on the other side the quarterback matchup is a good one it's Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson these two have faced off five times in their young careers with momes winning four of the five matchups this is also a game between two of the last NFL MVPs Mahomes of course won the MVP award in 2022 while Jackson won it last year and for momes it's a great opportunity to show off the chief's New Look passing game which includes rookie wide receiver Xavier worthy he ran a 42140 yard dash at the combine earlier this year the fastest recorded time in the history of that event we saw that speed translate to the field in the preseason particularly in that Lions game he had a big play on the third snap from scrimmage in that one in a touchdown a little bit later really excited to see what Xavier worthy can do against this raven secondary on Thursday and for Baltimore Lamar Jackson's favorite Target always has been and likely will remain tight end Mark Andrews who ranks fourth among all tight ends and targets third in receiving yards and second and receiving touchdowns since entering the NFL in 2018 in short to slow down the Ravens passing game you got to slow down Mark Andrews now the Ravens also have a new weapon on offense and Veteran running back Derk Henry and Henry's 30 years old but he has shown no signs of slowing down he rushed for 275 yards and 25 touchdowns over his last two seasons with Tennessee and we know that Baltimore loves to run the football they led the NFL in rushing yards per game last year and Henry plays right into that not to mention Jackson's ability as a runner he led all quarterbacks with 821 rushing yards last year so as much as we talk about the passing game in the modern NFL if you want to stop the Ravens all begins with stopping the running game and the Chiefs did that last year in the AFC Championship game they held balore to a season low in rushing attempts and rushing yards just 81 rushing yards allowed last year for the Chiefs defense against this high octane Ravens running game a similar effort on Thursday night would go a long way into kicking off the season with a victory and listen it's a long year but we're talking about all the history the Chiefs could maybe achieve in 2024 beating the Ravens an opening night would be a great start