Kansas City Chiefs @ Baltimore Ravens -3.5 (3:00PM EST on CBS)

Our first matchup on championship Sunday will be in Baltimore where Lamar Jackson and the Ravens will take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Kansas City is once again in position to head to the Super Bowl thanks to a thrilling win in Buffalo last weekend. You can’t count out Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs despite what many are calling a down year in Kansas City. He is already one of the greats and has shown time and again he thrives in big games.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore there is a lot to like with this Ravens team. The stout Ravens defense once again shut down a high-powered offense last week against the Texans. For the first time this year quarterback C.J. Stroud looked like a rookie as he struggled to dissect the Ravens defense. DC Mike Macdonald has done this numerous times this year and it’s a reason he is being looked at as a head coach. Mahomes though will be the ultimate test for this Ravens defense and they will need to be flawless with their game plan.

This game has the makings of a classic AFC battle. The current line is -3.5 which is right where I expected giving a slight edge to the Ravens at home. I see this game coming down to the wire with a late Justin Tucker field goal securing the win for Baltimore.

Game Pick: Ravens 20 – Chiefs 17

Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers -7 (6:30 PM EST on FOX)

Over on the NFC side, the underdog Lions will look to shock the 49ers who are poised for another Super Bowl appearance. San Francisco looked rusty last week against the Packers, particularly Brock Purdy. Purdy missed open receivers and was lucky to not have a pick-six early in the game. The hope for San Francisco will be that Purdy bounces back and they will need him on top of his game to beat Detroit.

The x-factor in this matchup is clearly Deebo Samuel who is nursing a shoulder injury. Samuel has been limited in practice this week and his status for Sunday is still uncertain. The 49ers offense struggled without Samuel on the field as he is a big piece of their game plan. If Samuel can’t go you can expect this game to go right down to the wire.

For Detroit, it’s much more simple. They really have nothing to lose as they weren’t expected to be here. Jared Goff and the Lions were able to hold off the Bucs last weekend thanks to the winning formula that they have used all year. Play turnover-free football and get the ball quickly to their playmakers. The Lions will once again need to be flawless on offense vs. the dominant 49ers defense to have a chance.

To me, this game comes down to the health of Samuel. San Francisco is just 8-9 without Samuel since he was drafted in 2019. If Samuel sits this out there will be a lot of nervous 49ers fans come the 4th quarter.

Game Pick: 49ers 28 – Lions 24

The post Conference Championship Round Picks appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, also known as the antichrist in Detroit, signed a four-year contract extension today worth $24 million dollars (with $17.5 million dollars guaranteed) that made him the highest-paid K in the league. Tucker is coming off a career-best 94.6% – which led him to also garner first-team All-Pro honors (for the fifth time in his career). The Ravens K has been a freak of nature in his 10-year career – w/ a career FG% of 91.1%.

Of course, I will not forget to highlight Tucker’s unearthly 66-yard FG conversation (which is an NFL record) against none other than the Detroit Lions in 2021.

With that enunciated, there is a mighty, exciting question regarding the Ravens kicker: is Tucker a future Hall of Famer? Well, it’s certainly rare for a kicker to make it into the HOF. There are only two primary kickers in the HOF, but I surely expect Adam Vinatieri to be the third kicking face in Canton. Tucker might not have near the same longevity as the former Patriots kicker, but he has accomplished quite a bit in his 10-year career thus far.

Besides having the record for the longest FG, Tucker is already the most accurate kicker ever to play the game. Furthermore, he also has a pivotal Super Bowl ring (which came in Super Bowl XLVII).

Tucker is already regarded as the best kicker of all time by sources like Sports Naut, Fan Buzz, and countless others. If Tucker isn’t the GOAT kicker, he’s unequivocally the second-best kicker of all time (right behind Vinatieri). So, I absolutely believe Tucker is a future HOF-kicker. The scariest part is that Tucker still has many years left to unleash hell against opponents.

The post Is Justin Tucker a future Hall of Famer? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The Detroit Lions suffer yet another heartbreaking loss in Week 3. The final seconds of the contest ended with Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker successfully completing an NFL record 66-yard field goal, which handed the Ravens an unbelievable 19-17 victory. After the game ended, the sports world largely reacted to two sequences: the successful field goal by Tucker and the “missed penalty on a delay of game” by the Ravens just prior to their field goal attempt. I don’t believe either of those actions should be seen as the reason why the Lions lost this game, or the main focus looking ahead. 

I firmly believe the reason why the spirited Lions lost their third straight game is none other than their achilles heel. Their biggest weakness has to be none other than their secondary and their inability to slow down an opposing team’s top weapon. I believe the biggest play of the game was when DET allowed a non-elite passing QB in Lamar Jackson to connect with Sammy Watkins on an unthinkable 4th and 18th with 24 seconds left. 

The Lions didn’t get gashed by Lamar overall, but they did break when it mattered and they continued to struggle with locking down Jackson’s main target in Mark Andrews. The Ravens TE logged 5 catches for 109 yards after notching just eight receptions and 77 yards in the first two weeks combined. Week 3 wasn’t the only contest where the Lions got steamrolled by the top opposing weapon. In Week 1, The 49ers delivered 41 points on the Lions, which was largely sent by their WR1 Deebo Samuel, who had a career day with nine catches, 189 yards, and one receiving touchdown. After the Lions got gushed by Jimmy G and Samuel, the Lions didn’t have an answer for Davante Adams in Week 2. The Packers WR1 captured eight catches for 121 yards, which helped his team unleash 35 pts in a huge divisional victory.

It’s been all too common for Aaron Glenn’s secondary to fold in each week this season. The Lions have been excellent in stopping the run and it’s safe to say Jared Goff has exceeded expectations in the rebuilt offense thus far. On the flip side, Glenn needs to develop a more robust plan to slow down passing attacks or acquire a talent that can match an elite skill talent. The Lions 2020 high draft pick in CB Jeffery Okudah is out for the season and their secondary also carries numerous average rookie profiles. 

It’s easy to yell at the refs (as always), but the missed call on the delay of game “by a second” is very common — it’s just uncommon to happen on a play before the game-winning field goal. As for Tucker’s record-setting field goal, it was NOT a miracle by any means. It’s a record and it’s very rare, but the elements were perfect for the Ravens elite kicker. He is unequivocally a slim amount of kickers in the league that actually could complete such an attempt & and in the very thin pool, he’s fortunate to be given an attempt of that magnitude, from the “middle of the field”, with the game on the line. It was certain that Tucker is one of the few kickers in the league that had a realistic chance of completing that field goal if he had the chance. Unfortunately, the Lions secondary crumbled when it mattered most and they allowed the historically great Tucker to have the attempt. With that being said, I believe the appropriate response from the game and looking forward has to be how they can fix their lagging secondary and prevent lapses in the first, second, third, and fourth quarter.

The post Detroit Lions secondary is undermining the team’s new attitude appeared first on Pro Football Mania.