The last time the Kansas City Chiefs went against the Baltimore Ravens, Justin Tucker was being “a f—king d-ck” about the situation. This year though, he’s looking to hold himself back. But it’s not like the Baltimore Ravens are not prepared for the 2024 season opener. The Ravens LB Roquan Smith knows exactly how to deal with the back-to-back Lombardi winners.

Roquan Smith appeared in a presser recently and revealed his two-phased strategy focused on defeating the men in red. After Mike Macdonald left the Ravens for a head coaching job in Seattle, the new DC Zach Orr might have come up with new techniques to put a stop to the Chiefs’ run game.

Jamison Hensley, the Ravens reporter for ESPN posted the answer to a burning question on his X handle. Roquan Smith was asked, “What’s the key to slowing down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs?” His solution is to confine Patrick Mahomes and his men to a single “dimension,” which highlights his two-step plan.

“First and foremost, just eliminating the run,” Smith confirmed in a recent presser. “Making the guys one dimensional just like in any other game and once you make a team one dimensional and know exactly what they’ll do in given situations, it gives us a chance as a defense to really pin our ears back and do exactly what we’ll like to do.”

Smith seems to be in perfect health to execute the changes under Zach Orr. He played 16 games in the last season and had a whopping 84 solo tackles to show for it. He even caused a forced fumble and had an interception and 1.5 sacks to go along with it. He did play in the AFC Championship game against KC where he had 5 solo tackles and 11 assists. Needless to say, the Ravens lost 17-10.

ESPN says that “Last season, the Ravens allowed 5.9 yards per pass attempt, the lowest mark by any defense in the NFL. It was the third-lowest mark by a defense allowed in the past 10 seasons, behind only the 2021 Bills (5.7) and 2016 Broncos (5.8).” Can they hold up to their defensive prowess this year? Only time will tell.

But before the season opener kicks off for both teams, fans might want to take a look at the Chiefs-Ravens dynamics. Prior to the AFC Championship game last year, an incident involving Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Ravens kicker Justin Tucker highlights one aspect of the same that made the headlines.

Has Justin Tucker changed after last year’s incident?

During the AFC Championship pregame practice, the kicker went to the Chiefs corner and put his helmet beside Mahomes foot and winked to Travis Kelce. The tight end got irked because of Tucker’s insensitivity towards Mahomes. So, Kelce was a bit crude in his ways and decided to throw the kicker’s gear away.

USA Today via Reuters

While Tucker was smirking at the time the incident took place, he seems to be committed to not repeat the same mistake again. He admitted the same in the conversation with Jamison Hensley. The kicker pointed out, “All I’ll say about it is I’m excited to go into a great environment, play against a great football team, with great players, great coaches, and do everything I can to prepare myself to be ready to contribute to the Ravens winning a football game.”

However, those antics aren’t something new for Justin Tucker. Jason Kelce has experienced similar things before. In an episode of New Heights Podcast, Jason admitted that althought Tucker is a “legendary kicker,” he is known for getting inside people’s skins. Hopefully, that has changed now.