Hype for Monday night’s Chiefs-Ravens game has been building all around the NFL
The brass at ESPN has to be thrilled with this “Monday Night Football” matchup as there’s no shortage of great story lines.
To name a few: the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs will face the Ravens, who have won 14 straight regular-season games. It’ll be MVP Patrick Mahomes against MVP Lamar Jackson. These teams were the top two seeds in the AFC playoffs a year ago.
Hype around the league has been building.
The NFL shared a video on social media that previews the big game with this message: “Monday Night Football’s going to be epic.”
The narrator notes that neither team has been at its best this season and says it’s “almost like they were saving something for Week 3. What a great ‘Monday Night Football’ matchup this is.”
Peter King of NBC Sports called it the “Early Game of the Year.” Here is part of what he wrote: “Since last Nov. 15, in all games, these two teams are a combined 20-1. (Tennessee 28, Baltimore 12.) The tidier stat is that these two teams are 17-0 in the regular-season since mid-November. In other words, you should watch. But in case you miss it, Kansas City at Baltimore is already booked for he 2021 season.”
The Big Lead said ESPN could be looking at a massive spike in viewership. This is a snippet of their story: “It should also result in a ratings bonanza. If Raiders-Saints (last week) resulted in a 31 percent increase from last season, how high are the numbers going to be for this game? It’s certainly going to be much higher than last year’s Week 3 MNF matchup between the Chicago Bears and the franchise now known as the Washington Football Team. We could be looking at a 35 percent plus increase year-over-year, which ESPN would obviously consider a resounding success, especially in an election year and a strange year for TV ratings in general as a global pandemic serves as backdrop.”
Sports Illustrated shared this a week ago:
Ken Belson of the New York Times wrote a story with the headline, “Jackson-Mahomes III: ‘The Whole World Is Watching.’” Here is an excerpt: “On Monday night, fans will get to watch the latest installment of the league’s most compelling quarterback rivalry when Patrick Mahomes, 25, and the Kansas City Chiefs visit Baltimore to take on Lamar Jackson, 23, and the Ravens. It won’t look anything like those rivalries of the past, as these young quarterbacks are the archetype of athletic, run-and-gun improvisational stars who have supplanted the old pocket passers.”
NFL Films shared a video asking if Mahomes or Jackson has the better chance at being the greatest of all-time.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted this:
