Chiefs Ravens BACKLASH! Fans RAGE against NFL over TIMEOUT, Rashee Rice, & Isaiah Likely GOES MAD!

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2024 NFL season, Week 1: What We Learned from Chiefs’ win over Ravens on Thursday night

Kansas City Chiefs 27, Baltimore Ravens 20

Baltimore Ravens
2024 · 0-1-0

AT

Kansas City Chiefs
2024 · 1-0-0

Worthy debut. 

The 2024 NFL Kickoff Game was delayed 20 minutes amid a thunder storm. But the fans who were forced to wait were instead rewarded with a little lightning — speed, that is. Thursday night was just a taste of what we have expected from

Xavier Worthy

 since the moment the Chiefs swung a trade up to land him in the draft. Worthy’s first NFL touch was a sidewinding, brilliant 21-yard touchdown run on an end-around to tie the game. His second was a 12-yard crosser. On both plays, Worthy’s breathtaking speed was tangible.

Patrick Mahomes

 only targeted Worthy once more in the first half, underthrowing him on a pass in the end zone — and credit the rookie for turning into a defender and knocking the would-be interception out of Ravens defensive back Ar’Darius Washington’s hands. The Chiefs finally got back to Worthy in the fourth quarter, and he rewarded them with a 35-yard TD catch against what looked like a busted Ravens coverage. That was it — three touches, 68 yards, two touchdowns. But with the Ravens keying in on

Travis Kelce

 and

Rashee Rice

, Worthy made the most of his limited touches in a terrific NFL debut.

One toe spoils great night from Lamar, Likely.

 When

Mark Andrews

 went down last season with a leg injury, it provided

Isaiah Likely

 an opportunity to show the Ravens what he can do in a more featured role. Likely was good last season, but when the Chiefs clamped down on

Zay Flowers

 in the second half, holding him to one catch for minus-2 yards, Likely looked like

Lamar Jackson

‘s best weapon while Andrews looked like an afterthought. Jackson gutted the Chiefs with his legs (122 yards) and his arm, especially to Likely in the second half. Likely finished with career highs in catches (nine) and receiving yards (111), including a 49-yard catch-and-run on a scramble-drill play. And Likely was almost the unlikely opening night hero, appearing to haul in what could have been a touchdown catch — John Harbaugh was prepared to go for two — that lifted the Ravens to a comeback win. The problem? Likely’s toe was a sliver out of bounds on what ended up being the final play of a thrilling first game. It was a massive showing from Likely, who also delivered a huge block on the Chiefs’

George Karlaftis

, clearing the way for a Jackson scramble. The Ravens came up just short in the opener, and Jackson did miss a wide-open Flowers in the end zone a play earlier, but both tight end and quarterback carried their team most of the game.

McDuffie passed a big test, but the Chiefs defense has other issues. 

There was a big concern when the Chiefs moved on from

L’Jarius Sneed

 that it might have a trickle-down effect on the Chiefs’ secondary. It wasn’t so much about whether

Trent McDuffie

 could handle the CB1 role, although it did mean tougher assignments — and more snaps outside. On Thursday, McDuffie struggled a little early in his matchup with Zay Flowers and actually went into the blue medical tent at one point in the first half. But McDuffie came back out to make a great fourth-down tackle on Flowers shy of the line to gain and bottled him up for most of the second half. But the rest of the defense had its share of issues, mostly with containing Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely. Jackson made several defenders look silly —

Nick Bolton

 more than once — in space and even powered through a few tackle attempts for extra yards. The Chiefs also couldn’t pressure Jackson ably or get him down, allowing him to create on the fly. Likely caught passes against seven different Chiefs defenders, per Next Gen Stats, nearly hauling in the game-winner. The Chiefs had two huge red-zone breakdowns in the final minute but came away with the win. The defense had a strip sack and two stops on downs, but it was not the cleanest performance by any means.

Henry quiet in Ravens debut. 

On the Ravens’ gutsy opening drive, overcoming three penalties and converting three third downs,

Derrick Henry

 capped it with a plunging 5-yard TD run, putting the Ravens up, 7-0, on the champs. It was Henry’s fifth carry of the drive and a strong start for the Ravens’ big free-agent acquisition. Henry then touched the ball only three more times the entire first half, finishing the game with 13 rushes for 46 yards and no catches on two targets. Henry averaged 16.5 carries per game last season with the Titans, and he had six games with 13 or fewer, so this wasn’t some shockingly low usage by recent Henry standards. Plus, when the Ravens went down two scores in the second half, Henry came off the field in favor of

Justice Hill

, and the ball was mostly in Lamar Jackson’s hands, so clearly there was a game-flow effect that worked against Henry in his debut. He did convert a huge fourth-and-1 run with 6:34 remaining in the game — his final touch — that helped the Ravens stay in it, down 10 points. Hill had one carry, and Flowers had two. The rest of the rushing attempts went to Jackson and Henry. You can’t read too much into this usage, although it does highlight Henry’s limitations when the Ravens are down and/or going tempo.

Chiefs offense still dangerous despite hiccups. 

The Chiefs were without wide receiver

Marquise Brown

, as expected, and they were starting a rookie left tackle in

Kingsley Suamataia

. Even with some flubs expected, if we were to measure Thursday’s offensive showing by 2023 standards, it would rate closer to the top than to the bottom. Patrick Mahomes had fairly modest passing numbers (291 yards), but there were some close misses that could have beefed those up quite a bit. It wasn’t reminiscent of last year’s struggles, but there were a few hiccups on passes that hit the receivers’ hands, including two by the running backs. Travis Kelce had a drop. So did

JuJu Smith-Schuster

 in his first game back. Even Mahomes threw a goofy interception and nearly was picked a second time, saving his own bacon in the final minutes by catching his own pass. Suamataia allowed a sack and had a holding penalty that wiped out a 9-yard run in the red zone. It wasn’t the crispest operation we’ve seen from this group. But Rashee Rice was terrific,

Isiah Pacheco

 ground down on the Ravens and Mahomes has a shiny, new toy in Xavier Worthy. There’s work to be done here, too, but the champs were facing one of their toughest tests in Week 1. They’re still the champs for a reason.

Next Gen stat of the game: On his first NFL career touch, Xavier Worthy scored on a 21-yard end-around run, gaining +14 Rushing Yards Over Expected on the play. Worthy, who reached a top speed of 24.41 mph during his record-setting 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, hit a peak velocity of 18.45 mph on his TD run.

NFL Research: On his 23-yard completion to Travis Kelce in the second quarter of Thursday’s game, Patrick Mahomes surpassed Len Dawson (28,507 yards) as the Chiefs’ all-time leader in passing yards. Dawson reached his total in 183 games with the Chiefs; Thursday was Mahomes’ 97th regular-season game with the franchise.

Kansas City wins a thriller over Baltimore to kick off the NFL season and the Chiefs’ quest for Super Bowl three-peat

 

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes scrambles during the first half against the Baltimore Ravens.
Jay Biggerstaff/USA Today Sports/Reuters

CNN — 

The NFL’s 105th season is underway, and so is the Kansas City Chiefs’ quest for a historic Super Bowl three-peat, in thrilling fashion.

In front of a delighted Arrowhead Stadium crowd – which included Taylor Swift – the Chiefs unveiled their championship banner and gave their home fans a nail-biting 27-20 win against the Baltimore Ravens in a game that came down to the final play to determine the outcome.

Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes broke the franchise record for all-time passing yards, putting him ahead of Len Dawson, while rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy – who broke the NFL combine 40-yard dash record at 4.21 seconds – had a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown.

A rematch of last season’s AFC championship game featuring Super Bowl LVIII MVP Mahomes and the reigning league MVP in Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the Chiefs were in control in the first half, taking a 13-10 lead into the break, and they extended the lead to 20-10 in the third quarter.

The Ravens, though, started showing signs of life early in the final period, with a 49-yard pass from Jackson to tight end Isaiah Likely to cut it to 20-17.

But Mahomes, as he so often does, answered quickly by finding Worthy for a 35-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 27-17. In the first half, Worthy had sprinted 21 yards on an end-around to the end zone – his first touch in his NFL career.

The biggest catch of the night, however, might have been from Mahomes himself. With less than three minutes left in the game and the Chiefs holding a seven-point lead, Mahomes had a third-down pass deflected by Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson, but the Chiefs quarterback managed to block out two defenders to catch the floating ball, avoiding the turnover.

Kansas City was forced to punt, giving Jackson and Baltimore one last drive.

With no timeouts, Jackson took to the air and hit wide receiver Rashod Bateman for a 38-yard gain, making it first-and-goal. Incomplete passes to Likely and wide receiver Zay Flowers made it third-and-goal with five seconds to go.

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On the final play of the game, Jackson threw to Likely in the back of the end zone for what looked like a touchdown. That would have given the Ravens a chance to tie with an extra point or win the game with a two-point conversion.

But, the play was reviewed – as all possible scoring plays are in the final two minutes of the game – and subsequent views showed Likely had a toe out of bounds.

The play was ruled an incomplete pass and the Chiefs escaped the opener with the win by a toe.

“Obviously, it was nerve wracking,” Mahomes told NBC. “It’s a game of inches, that’s what they say. That’s a great football team, and to come out here and get a win at Arrowhead, it’s a way to start off the season.”

That moment meant that Mahomes could truly celebrate his new place in Chiefs lore. The franchise-record-breaking moment for Mahomes came on the kind of play NFL fans have seen from the Chiefs star QB so many times in his career.

 

It was on a third-and-12, and Mahomes, under pressure, scrambled to find open space and connected with his longtime trusty target, tight end Travis Kelce, for a 23-yard gain midway through the second quarter.

Mahomes had entered the night 84 yards away from surpassing Dawson for the franchise record. He finished the night 20-of-28 passing for 291 yards and a touchdown, throwing one interception.

Jackson was 26-of-41 for 273 yards and one touchdown.

After the game, Jackson had a hard time accepting the result: “I thought it was a touchdown,” he said of the final play. “Still think it was a touchdown.”

Kickoff for the season opener was slightly delayed – 20 minutes – until 7:40 p.m. local time in Kansas City because of a thunderstorm that went over Arrowhead Stadium, delaying event and game activities. During the downpour, spectators were told to leave their seats and take cover, while players cleared the field.

After the inclement weather cleared, a rainbow appeared in the distance – as if a sign for exuberant NFL fans that the season was near.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.