The Ravens came within inches of potentially beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL regular-season opener on Thursday night.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson threw a 10-yard pass to tight end Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone as time expired that would have pulled the Ravens to within one point. After a review, the officials ruled that Likely’s toe was on the line and the Chiefs escaped with a 27-20 victory.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh indicated the team would have attempted a two-point conversion to win the game if Likely’s reception would have been ruled in-bounds.
“[That was] a good hard-fought football game, a very exciting football game [and] a lot of back and forth. I’m proud of the way our guys played,” Harbaugh said. “The way we fought, the way we competed, the challenges that we faced just by the situation of the game and all the things going on around the game, and obviously the challenge that our opponent presents us, which is a great opponent, and then, the adversity throughout the course of the game is a challenge.
“I thought our guys met all those things – all those setbacks at times – and fought like crazy to overcome it.”
Before throwing to Likely on the game’s final play, Jackson threw late and too high to an open Likely in the corner of the end zone and missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the middle of the end zone.
The Chiefs are trying to become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls and made a statement against the Ravens in a rematch of the AFC Championship Game.
Jackson used his legs and his arm to keep the Ravens in the game. He completed 26 of 41 passes for 273 yards with a touchdown and ran for 122 yards on 16 carries.
“The whole game gives me encouragement because I believe our guys were fighting,” Jackson said. “Unfortunately, every time we had an explosive [play], we had a penalty right after that, so it’s hard to get in the groove. Our offense battled, and we battled through the third and fourth quarters. Unfortunately, these ugly games, we have to overcome them, and I feel like we did a great job with that. [The game was] just coming down in the red zone or 10-yard line to the last play.”
The Chiefs expanded their lead to 20-10 on the first drive of the second half when Patrick Mahomes marched them down the field and scored on a 1-yard run by Isiah Pacheco.
However, Jackson continued to carry the Ravens and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Likely that pulled them within three points early in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs answered again on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie first-round pick Xavier Worthy for a 27-17 lead. Worthy ran past Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who appeared to think he had help down the sideline as Worthy ran untouched for the score.
Justin Tucker’s 32-yard field goal on the next drive made it a one-score game.
The Ravens got the ball back at their own 13 at the two-minute warning with no timeouts. Baltimore moved the ball downfield against a tired Chiefs defense and Likely came within inches of putting the Ravens in a position to win the game by going for the 2-point conversion.\
“Gotta wear white cleats next time, that’s my advice for him,” Mahomes joked after the game.
After a slow start, Mahomes threw for 291 yards with a touchdown and an interception for a 101.9 rating.
The Ravens outgained the Chiefs, 452 to 353.
The Ravens converted three third downs, including from nine and 11 yards, to set up a 5-yard touchdown by running back Derrick Henry on the opening drive.
The Chiefs answered on the ensuing drive when Worthy took a pitch from Mahomes and ran past the Ravens’ defenders for a 21-yard score. The drive was helped by a 15-yard penalty on inside linebacker Roquan Smith for a horse tackle on wide receiver Rashee Rice.
Jackson fumbled on the first drive of the second quarter on a strip sack by Chris Jones that was recovered by defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah on the Ravens’ 14. The Ravens had a couple of key stops and minimized the damage, holding Kansas City to a 32-yard field goal by Harrison Butker for a 10-7 lead.
The Ravens failed to convert a fourth-and-3 on a short pass to Flowers at midfield. The Chiefs then converted a third-and-12 on a 23-yard pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce. The defense stepped up again and the Chiefs had to settle for a 31-yard kick by Butker for a 13-7 lead with 5:47 left in the half.
Tucker missed a 53-yard field goal attempt with just under two minutes.
Smith made up for his earlier penalty with an interception. This time, Tucker converted a 25-yard kick and the Ravens trailed, 13-10, at halftime.
“This is the worst we’ll play all season. I promise you that,” Smith said.
Likely breakout player: Likely was one of the Ravens’ best players in the preseason and he carried that performance over to the Chiefs game. He set career-highs with nine receptions for 111 yards with the touchdown.
“I believe our offense has a lot of new additions, and we’re just getting adjusted,” Likely said. “I don’t want to say preseason was the reason, because it wasn’t; we battled. You can see it; we put points on the board. We just have to do what we have to do to win those games. [It’s] simple.”
Ravens’ defense plays well: Zachary Orr passed a tough test in his first regular season game as the Ravens’ new defensive coordinator. The defense did a solid job flying to the ball. Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh had an encouraging performance with four tackles and a quarterback hit. Fellow outside linebacker David Ojabo also had a sack.
Henry’s debut: Henry, who was signed as a free agent this offseason, ran for 46 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown. The Chiefs stacked the box to stop him.
“[There is a] lot of stuff you learn – individually and then as a team,” Henry said. “Any time you play, whether it’s a win or a loss, you look at the things that you need to get better at and the things that we did well [to] improve on, and I think just having a growth mindset … It’s the first game. We came up short; it’s not the end of the world. We’ve still got a lot of football left to play and just [have to] stay with it [and] hold each other accountable and keep wanting to come in, get better and make each other better.”
Costly timeouts: The Ravens had to use two timeouts early in the third quarter, which forced them to go no-huddle several times late in the game. The lack of timeouts also was costly on the final drive.
New-look offensive line: The Ravens’ offensive line consisted of two returning starters from last season — left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Tyler Linderbaum. The three new starters were Andrew Vorhees at left guard, Daniel Faalele at right guard, and Patrick Mekari at right tackle. That unit had an uneven performance. Rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten was beaten badly by Jones on the strip sack on Jackson. Stanley was flagged four times for illegal formation in the first half.
“The offensive line I thought did a heck of a job out there,” Harbaugh said. “[There were] a lot of question marks the pundits and the prognosticators had about the offensive line, saying that with that offensive line we couldn’t do anything. To see the way they went out there and played against that defense I thought was pretty impressive, and that’s a challenge, especially in this environment [with] communication.”
Simpson looks solid: Ravens inside linebacker Trenton Simpson was named the starter for Patrick Queen, who signed with the Steelers this offseason. Simpson had five tackles, quarterback hits, and a half-sack with Nnamdi Madubuike. He also tipped a Mahomes pass in the final minutes with a perfectly timed jump that gave the Ravens a chance to win.
No pregame incidents with Tucker and Chiefs: In last season’s AFC Championship Game, Tucker had an aggressive exchange with Mahomes and Kelce about 90 minutes before the kickoff. The Chiefs duo took exception to Tucker stretching near their warm-ups on the Chiefs’ side of the field. On Thursday night, Tucker stretched and kicked the ball on the Chiefs’ side of the field without any incidents.
Rain delay: Kickoff was delayed about 20 minutes until 8:40 p.m. because of storms in the area.
Swifty: Pop star Taylor Swift attended the game to support her boyfriend, Kelce.
