00:00What about the AFC, Joe, which starts now with the Kansas City Chiefs,
00:03but the Ravens and the Buffalo Bills booked both in front of KC.
00:08Do you think that is appropriate from the books?
00:10No, not at all.
00:11Until you knock off the big boys,
00:13you can't put Buffalo and Baltimore ahead of Kansas City and Pat Mahomes.
00:17I can't do it.
00:17Again, until they prove they're worthy in a playoff environment
00:21of knocking off Kansas City and Andy Reid, I can't do it.
00:24I don't care on paper.
00:26They look more complete than Kansas City right now.
00:29They have a quarterback that led his team to a Super Bowl last year,
00:32and all he does is go to AFC championships,
00:35and more times than not, wins them,
00:38and beats the head-to-head against Lamar and against Josh Allen.
00:41How could you bet against Pat Mahomes in this type of situation?
00:45I think that is the tough thing because we can talk roster, schedule,
00:51whatever it might be,
00:53but if you've bet Kansas City to win the AFC championship every year since Mahomes,
00:57I mean, you're in the title game every year.
01:00He's never not in the title game,
01:01so it's hard, I think, occasionally to justify where those teams are.
01:07I'll say I am more in on Baltimore than Buffalo.
01:10The sell, I think, for Buffalo is what's supposed to be an easy division.
01:14They don't have that next-level contender, right,
01:17where Baltimore deals with Cincinnati.
01:19The Chiefs deal with either the Chargers or the Broncos,
01:22depending on, you know, what your flavor is.
01:24You have to go back way farther to find that next cut of team from the AFC East.
01:30I just think this Ravens roster, Joe,
01:32is as good as the Philadelphia Eagles, if not better,
01:36and this is the one thing that I believe,
01:37and I think we're all allowed to have these beliefs.
01:41I think Lamar Jackson is going to win a Super Bowl.
01:43I believe at some point Lamar Jackson is going to win a Super Bowl.
01:46I think he is too good.
01:48I think the situation that he is in this year in Baltimore
01:50is the best of his career.
01:52So, from that respect, do I wish if I was getting better number on the Ravens?
01:57Yes.
01:58But I don't disagree with the numbers on the Baltimore Ravens.
02:00No, I understand why they're there.
02:02You're talking about a two-time MVP,
02:04and if Mark Andrews catches the football, maybe they knock off Buffalo.
02:08Maybe it's a different type of situation.
02:10But I just go back to two years ago where they had home field,
02:13they had Pat Mahomes and that team dead to rights for the most part,
02:17entering that game.
02:19The offensive game plan fell apart, and all of a sudden they lost that game.
02:23And again, in a playoff environment, if we're talking about all three quarterbacks,
02:28Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, or Pat Mahomes,
02:31whether they be at home or on the road,
02:32which one more times is just basically that blind bet,
02:36it's Pat Mahomes because he's done it.
02:38And again, you know, this team in Baltimore, for me, yes, they're complete,
02:44but they might not be the best team in the division.
02:46It might be Cincinnati, especially.
02:48I'm just saying if they start fast.
02:51Now, defensively, I know they have question marks,
02:54but again, we're talking about a quarterback in Joe Burrow
02:56that has a winning record against Pat Mahomes,
02:59and when healthy, they're just as lethal as all three of those football teams.
03:03I mean, Cincinnati is the team that you find tied for the fourth best odds from the AFC.
03:07They have the fourth best odds to be the number one seed in the conference.
03:11The questions around this Cincinnati group, a lot of it, you know,
03:15it's the defensive side of the ball.
03:16They figure out getting Trey Hendrickson in.
03:18They figure out getting Shamar Stewart in.
03:20This team cannot.
03:22Here's the thing.
03:23Last year, man, they lost close games consistently.
03:27Yeah.
03:28I mean, you know, the loss to Kansas City, both losses to Baltimore.
03:32Forget, you know, early season losses to New England.
03:35This team has to be able to close the deal, and it's a full, you know,
03:40all three levels game, right?
03:42Like, I think McPherson missed some kicks, you know, pass interference calls.
03:46It's not all like, oh, Burrow can't win close.
03:47I'm not saying that, but this is a team who has to be buttoned up from the word go
03:52because there is not a lot of margin for error when you evaluate not just trying
03:56to win a division off of the Baltimore Ravens.
03:59But, of course, Joe, trying to just make the playoffs in the AFC is a very tricky,
04:08tricky thing to do.
04:08They've regressed.
04:10They went to a Super Bowl loss.
04:11They went back to an AFC championship and lost, and then they missed out on the playoffs.
04:16Two years in a row.
04:16This is not a team that is just looking to get a wild card.
04:21This is a team that is built with Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown,
04:26and now Joe Burrow that's healthy, that says we're as good as anybody in the conference.
04:32We need to win it now, otherwise our window of opportunity may have passed.
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