One might say the Kansas City Chiefs were saved by the most un-Likeliest appendage in the league.
It’d be an awful pun, and I guess I just did it.
And that’s what happened in Kansas City in the NFL’s 2024 opener Thursday night, as replay decided that a touchdown by Baltimore tight end Isaiah Likely – as time expired in the game – would not count because Likely’s toe was on the white, the back of the end zone. Kansas City had outlasted Baltimore, 27-20, the Chiefs, and tight end Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, and the thousands of fans jamming the stadium, celebrated like mad.
And the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense of its Super Bowl title – actually, the last two – is on.
Here’s the thing: if the Ravens (0-1) are ever going to get to the next level, they’re going to have to figure out a way to get past Kansas City, and the Ravens are 1-5 with quarterback Lamar Jackson starting against KC, who has beaten Baltimore five times in the last six meetings.
Nobody could blame Jackson for this failure. He passed for 273 yards and a touchdown (would’ve had another had the one to Likely counted) and ran for 122.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who’s won three Super Bowl titles already and is looking to become the first quarterback to lead his team to three straight, passed for 291 yards and a touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy. Worthy had a rushing touchdown, as well, in this rematch of the AFC Championship game.
Baltimore was down 27-17 in the fourth quarter, and got a field goal from arguably the best kicker in football, in Justin Tucker, to stay close. Finally, the Ravens got the ball back – with no time outs – at their own 13-yard-line with 1:50 left.
Likely caught two balls on the final drive and Jackson had a first down run. The big play, though, was a 38-yard pass to Rashod Bateman to get Baltimore to the KC 10, with 19 seconds left.
Jackson threw the ball away on first down and missed Zay Flowers, who was wide open, on second down. That set up what looked like a TD pass to Likely, who had 111 yards receiving in the game and a TD earlier.
The game was delayed by about 20 minutes by lightning.
Derrick Henry, a free agent acquisition by the Ravens from Tennessee, had the first touchdown of the season for any team, giving Baltimore the early 7-0 lead.
Next for the Ravens: a home game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The Chiefs are home Sunday as well, against Cincinnati.
