Love is in the air thanks to Chiefs, Ravens coordinators

Making sure to compliment, not provide bulletin-board material for the opponent is a common theme each week for Andy Reid-led teams. That is why it makes plenty of sense for the love fest going on between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens coordinators this week.

John Harbaugh, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, is one of Reid’s protégés, having served as a special teams coach under Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999 to 2007.

Anyway, you came here for the love so let’s get to the love.

As we led with in Arrowheadlines Friday morning, Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale started the fest with lofty comparisons for both Reid and Chiefs starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“I think Mahomes is [Joe] Montana — I’m talking about the San Francisco Montana and not the Kansas City Montana,” Martindale said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “I think how everything is cyclical and history repeats itself. I think you’re seeing that combination between Andy [Reid] and Mahomes of Montana and Bill Walsh. I really do.”

We talk so much about the Reid coaching tree, as we should, but it is important to remember Reid is just a branch on the Mike Holmgren tree, Holmgren coming from the Walsh tree.

In other words, Martindale’s compliments are about as high as you could get.

Let’s move onto the Chiefs and the praise by defensive coordinator Bob Sutton of the Ravens’ likely starting quarterback in this game—Lamar Jackson.

The media asked Sutton whether the Chiefs have ever played against a quarterback like Jackson.

“I don’t know if we ever have,” Sutton said. “We played against, our first year, RGIII (Robert Griffin III) when he was in there. They were similar to that, but probably a little still more NFL offense involved. But it had a lot of it. I’ve played against (Colin) Kaepernick when they were a lot like this, but still more NFL offense. And we’ve never played against a guy as fast as this.”

But surely, Bob, Michael Vick had to be faster, right?

“Yeah, but it was a little bit different style,” Sutton added. “Chip (Kelly) ran a different style. Michael (Vick) was a very elusive player and had the big arm. He had a great arm and that stuff. Those are the guys that would kind of pop into my mind right there.”

Love is in the air.