By a toe: Ravens’ comeback falls short as Chiefs hold

Adam Teicher

Close

Adam Teicher

ESPN Staff Writer
- Covered Chiefs for 20 seasons for Kansas City Star
- Joined ESPN in 2013
Jamison Hensley

Close

Jamison Hensley

ESPN Staff Writer

Sep 6, 2024, 12:10 AM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs managed to continue their stretch of dominance over a key AFC rival, winning 27-20 in a season-opening heartbreaker for the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.

The game came down to tight end Isaiah Likely‘s toe being out of bounds on a would-be touchdown in the final seconds.

Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a two-touchdown performance from rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, the Chiefs picked up where they left off in the Super Bowl and look to be legit contenders for the elusive three-peat.

Meanwhile, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson fell to 1-5 in his career against Mahomes.

Here are the keys to the game:

Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy had his season debut against the Baltimore Ravens. Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs drafted Worthy to help bring the big play back to their offense. He won’t always do it as well going forward as he did in his NFL debut, but judging from Thursday night, he’s going to have a big impact.

Worthy looked like he fits in nicely with a wide receiver group that includes Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown. Brown didn’t play against the Ravens because of a shoulder injury but should return early in the season.

Worthy scored a touchdown on a 21-yard run the first time he got the ball in an NFL game. In the fourth quarter, he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass. Though he won’t always score twice in a game, look for Worthy to have this kind of impact. He won’t necessarily get a high volume of touches, but he will make the most of those he gets.

QB breakdown: Mahomes made a critical mistake by forcing a throw late in the first half that was intercepted. That cost the Chiefs a chance at some points and set up the Ravens with good field position, which they used to kick a field goal. Otherwise, it was a solid game from Mahomes. He completed 20 of 28 passes for 291 yards while topping Len Dawson as the Chiefs’ all-time leading passer.

Eye-popping advanced stat: WR Rice, who caught seven passes for 103 yards, had 72 of those yards after the catch, the second most in a game in his career. Mahomes was often able to find him when he was moving up the field with a defender trailing or otherwise in a seam in coverage. — Adam Teicher

Next game: vs. Cincinnati Bengals (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS, Sept. 15)

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens’ season began the way their last season ended — with a frustrating defeat to Mahomes and the Chiefs.

In a rematch of the AFC Championship Game, Thursday night’s loss dropped Jackson and the Ravens to 1-5 against Mahomes. Jackson is 60-19 (.759) against the rest of the league, including the postseason.

On the final drive, Jackson drove the Ravens down to the Kansas City 10-yard line, where he had three shots to the end zone. Jackson missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone and then appeared to throw a 10-yard touchdown to Likely as time expired. But Likely’s right foot hit the end line, which led to the score being overturned.

The reigning Most Valuable Player, Jackson did all he could to keep Baltimore in it with his ninth game of 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing, the most in NFL history. Even with his performance, the Ravens couldn’t keep up with the big plays from Mahomes, who now has 14 touchdown passes and three interceptions in his career against Baltimore.

QB breakdown: The most frustrating part of Jackson’s game was his play inside the 20-yard line. In the first half, Jackson finished 1-of-4 for 9 yards in the red zone with two off-target throws, including a batted-down pass to a wide open Justice Hill. This was much different from last season, when Jackson completed 68% of his red zone passes. Also, Jackson fumbled at his own 13-yard line in the second quarter, resulting in a Chiefs field goal. Jackson has lost four fumbles in six games against Kansas City.

Troubling trend: The Chiefs continue to take away tight end Mark Andrews, who has been Jackson’s favorite target. Andrews wasn’t targeted until five minutes into the second half and finished the game with two catches for 14 yards. In his previous five meetings with Kansas City, Andrews had averaged 21.8 yards receiving and scored no touchdowns.

Eye-popping stat: With 122 rushing yards, a slimmed-down Jackson moved past Russell Wilson for third place on the all-time rushing list for quarterbacks. Jackson trails only Michael Vick (6,109 yards rushing) and Cam Newton (5,628). But Vick and Newton played in over 140 games. Thursday night was Jackson’s 87th career game.

Biggest question: What are the ramifications of the Ravens’ loss? While you can’t overreact to a Week 1 defeat, this opener showed once again that Mahomes has the Ravens’ number. Baltimore knew it couldn’t even the score from last season’s AFC Championship Game loss, but the Ravens left Thursday with even more uncertainty about whether they can upend Mahomes. After losing this potential head-to-head tiebreaker, the Ravens’ road to the Super Bowl might have to go through Arrowhead, where Jackson is 0-3. — Jamison Hensley

Next game: vs. Las Vegas Raiders (1 p.m. ET, CBS, Sept. 15)

Source