The Season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens did not disappoint last night (September 5).
The Chiefs beat the Ravens 27-20 in the opening game of the regular season, but it wasn’t an easy victory for the Super Bowl champions with the Ravens having a touchdown ruled out at the end of the game.
The Ravens took a 7-0 lead when Derrick Henry ran the ball into the endzone from five yards out. The Chiefs tied the score on the next drive with a 21-yard run by rookie receiver Xavier Worthy.
Kansas City went on to score two unanswered field goals in the second quarter to take a 13-7 lead before Justin Tucker drilled a 25-yard field goal to make it a three-point game going into the half.
Isiah Pacheco extended the Super Bowl champions' lead with a one-yard run in the third quarter before Lamar Jackson connected with Isiah Likely for a 49-yard touchdown to reduce the deficit to just three points.
Worthy was in the endzone once again in the fourth quarter after a 35-yard completion from Patrick Mahomes, before Tucker scored a 32-yard field goal to bring the score to 27-20.
However, Baltimore's efforts were not enough to avoid defeat against the defending champions.
What did we learn?
Isiah is Likely a Top 10 tight end in the NFL
Ravens tight end Isiah Likely was electric in the game against Andy Reid's men on Thursday night. The 2022 fourth-round draft pick has seen an increased workload last season due to injuries to Mark Andrews.
Andrews, however, was present on the field and healthy last night and Likely still had a much larger workload than Andrews. On his way to his first 100-yard game, Likely led the team in both targets (12) and receptions (9) against Kansas City. Likely’s stat line of 9/12 for 111 and a touchdown blew Andrews’ 2/2 for 14 yards out the water.
Likely’s biggest catch of the night was a 49-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jackson. The tight end caught the pass at the Chiefs' 30-yard line before skipping past three players and charging his way into the endzone.
The biggest talking point, however, came when there were zeros on the clock. Jackson found the 24-year-old at the back of the endzone to bring the score to 26-27, with the on-field officials ruling a crucial touchdown. However, upon review, it was adjudged that Likely’s toe was out of bounds and the game-changing touchdown was chalked off.
Xavier is Worthy of being The Chiefs' new deep threat
It’s no secret that since the departure of Tyreek Hill in 2022 the Chiefs have struggled when looking for a deep threat for Patrick Mahomes to target.
Mahomes’ longest pass, when Hill was on the team, was at least 75 yards. Since Hill left for Miami, Mahomes’ longest pass has been 67 yards, twice over.
Last night, however, may have been the answer that Reid has sought. Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy caught two of his three targets for 47 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown. The Texas Longhorns alumni also picked up another 21 yards on a jet sweep.
In Mahomes’ and Hill’s four full seasons together, the wide receiver had 393 rushing yards on 52 attempts with an average of 7.5 yards per carry. This primarily came from the same jet sweep that Worthy picked 21 yards up on last night.
The Chiefs knew exactly what they were getting when they drafted Worthy with the 21-year-old receiver clocking a quicker 40-yard dash time than Hill. Worthy’s 4.21 seconds beat Hill’s 4.29.
Despite winning the last two Super Bowl titles, Kansas City have lacked speed downfield, but not anymore. The three-peat looks like a real possibility.
I’m sorry you missed Jackson, he is for real
The reigning MVP came into the season opener with a slimmer frame. The problem for the Chiefs' defence is that Jackson was also quicker. The Ravens quarterback carved up the opposing defence for 122 yards on the ground as well as completing 26 of his 41 passes for 273 yards.
The Ravens clocked 185 rush yards against the Chiefs, with running back Henry’s 46 yards the next highest behind Jackson’s 122.
None of Jackson’s 122 yards were gained on a big run with his longest rush of the night clocking in at 16 yards. Instead, the 27-year-old was consistently finding holes all night and averaged 7.6 yards per carry on 16 attempts.
The two-time MVP also protected the ball well not throwing any interceptions and finishing the game with a passer rating of 90.8.
The NFL’s reigning MVP will be difficult to stop this season with his arm and leg talent as well as a supporting cast of Likely, Andrews, Henry and Zay Flowers.
Kelce may see a swift decrease in targets
Tight end Travis Kelce finished the previous campaign with under 1000 yards for the first time in eight seasons. It was the first time it had happened since Patrick Mahomes entered the NFL and the trend may continue as Kelce was only targeted four times by Mahomes against the Ravens.
The tight end did catch three of his targets but only for 34 yards, and was not able to record a touchdown.
Mahomes' new number-one target Rashee Rice caught seven of his nine targets for 103 yards, with the Chiefs' number-two tight Noah Gray having a similar stat line to Kelce. Gray successfully caught all three of his targets for 37 yards.
Between Mahomes primarily looking for Rice, going deep to Worthy and Kelce having to share targets with Gray, expect the 34-year-old tight end’s usage to go down even further this season.
