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While You Were Sleeping: A case for the NFL’s best team
There is poetry in how the AFC’s two best teams have navigated this season, one they began together. In the league opener, Kansas City bested Baltimore by a literal toe. Both teams have been elite since, in opposite ways. And I can only assume this year ends for one of them at the other’s hands.
Consider:
- In a 41-31 road win over the 4-3 Buccaneers that wasn’t as close as the score suggests, the Ravens declared themselves as the NFL’s hottest — if not overall best — team. Baltimore ran up 41 points in three and a half quarters of play, all while snatching two interceptions. Lamar Jackson accounted for five touchdowns. The Ravens, who came into this game No. 2 in total DVOA, looked elite in every phase against a good team. Remember when they started 0-2? Looks far away now. Nobody wants to play this 5-2 team.
- Yes, the Chiefs are 6-0, the NFL’s last undefeated team. But watching them is a slog, a crock-potting of the highest proportion. A tough defense and a just-good-enough offense helmed by the best quarterback alive. It…
