Chiefs beat Ravens by finest of margins in wild finish to NFL season opener
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown and Kansas City’s defense held Lamar Jackson and the Ravens out of the end zone three straight times in the final seconds, allowing the Chiefs to begin their pursuit of a third straight Super Bowl title with a 27-20 win over Baltimore on Thursday night.
The game ended with a video review after Jackson appeared to connect with Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone with no time left for a touchdown. Video clearly showed Likely’s toe landing on the endline, but the call was overturned, prompting the Chiefs to stream off the bench in celebration.
“That was nerve-wracking, of course, it’s a matter of inches, that’s what they say,” Mahomes said after the game.[The Ravens are] a great football team and to win at Arrowhead is a great way to start the season… We have a lot of things we need to get better at, but this is a great way to start.”
Xavier Worthy had touchdowns on the rushing and receiving pitch, and Isiah Pacheco also had a TD run for the Chiefs.
“[Worthy] “He’s a playmaker, but this is just the beginning, he’s going to be great,” Mahomes said.
The rookie from Texas helped Kansas City win a rematch of last season’s AFC title game. The Chiefs also defeated the Ravens for the fifth time in their last six meetings.
That imbalance is especially frustrating for Jackson, who has called Kansas City the Ravens’ “kryptonite.” He was superb Thursday night, throwing for 273 yards and a touchdown and adding 122 yards on the ground, but video review of the game’s final play left him rueing a missed opportunity to finally outshine Mahomes and Co.
Jackson also gave Baltimore a chance, getting the ball back on his own 13-yard line with 1:50 left on the clock and no timeouts.
He completed a pair of tosses to Likely, who finished with 111 yards receiving and a score, and scrambled on third-and-two for a first down. Two plays later, Jackson rushed a pass 38 yards to Rashod Bateman down the sideline that brought the Ravens to the Kansas City 10 with just 19 seconds left — enough time for a pair of shots on the end zone.
Jackson’s first pass was a throwaway, but his second missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone. Then came the final throw, after Jackson had scrambled for what seemed like an eternity. Ravens coach John Harbaugh indicated his team would try to make a winning two-point conversion, but they didn’t get that chance after video review.
The wild ending came after the start was delayed for about 20 minutes due to a storm that brought heavy rain and lightning.
The Ravens opened with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended when Derrick Henry, who had tormented the Chiefs in six previous meetings while at Tennessee, dove into the end zone from five yards out to take an early lead.
But the high-octane Chiefs, trying to avoid losing their season opener in back-to-back years, needed just two minutes to produce an answer. Mahomes connected twice with Rashee Rice, who has thus far avoided an NFL suspension for his role in a street-racing crash in Dallas, before Worthy showed why the Chiefs made him their first-round pick with a 21-yard touchdown run.
After those two drives, the first half was mostly characterized by blunders from week 1.
Jackson was stripped deep in his own territory by Chris Jones, setting up a Kansas City field goal. Flowers was stopped in front of the first-down marker on fourth-and-three near midfield on the Ravens’ next series, setting up another field goal. And even Justin Tucker, one of the league’s most accurate kickers, knocked down a field goal attempt from 53 yards wide left.
The Chiefs themselves weren’t immune to mistakes. Mahomes was intercepted by Roquan Smith on a bad throw late in the first half, leading to a chip-shot field goal that put Baltimore up 13-10 at the break.
But the Ravens’ inability to reach the end zone and turn the momentum in their favor ultimately proved costly.
The Chiefs opened the second half with an 81-yard touchdown march to extend their lead. Then, after Jackson connected with Likely for a 49-yard touchdown throw, Mahomes drove them 70 yards against the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFL last season for a touchdown that made it 27-17 with 10 minutes left.
Tucker made it a one-score game with his field goal with 4:54 left, and Baltimore quickly forced a point. But despite Jackson’s passionate play, he was forced to limp off the field in another disappointing loss to the Chiefs.