Bye Bye Ravens Comeback Fall Short as Chiefs Hold On

Adam Teicher of Kansas City Star has covered the Chiefs for twenty seasons as an ESPN Staff Writer.
Joined ESPN in 2013Jamison Hensley joined ESPN as a staff writer in 2013; initially covering AFC North before switching solely to Ravens coverage as of 2013. He first covered their games when covering AFC South; however he began covering them exclusively when covering Baltimore Ravens starting from 2013. Jamison won the National Sports Media Association Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award in 2018 and published Flying High: Stories of the Baltimore Ravens book in 2014. From 2000 until 2011 he covered their beat as Ravens beat writer for The Baltimore Sun newspaper. Sept 6, 2024 12:10AM ETTennessee City Mo Jay Biggerstaff/Imagn Images for Kansas City ChiefsThe Chiefs drafted Worthy with hopes of reinvigorating their offensive strategy with big plays. At first glance, Worthy appeared poised for success during his NFL debut Thursday. Worthy seemed comfortable joining an arsenal that includes Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown at wide receiver. Brown missed Sunday’s matchup against Baltimore due to a shoulder injury but should return soon in 2018.A breakout performance: Worthy scored his first NFL touchdown with an 11-yard run in his debut. In the fourth quarter, he caught another one for 35-yard score! Worthy may not score two touchdowns every game, but expect him to have this kind of impactful play every so often. His touches may not always be abundant but when they do come, they’re sure to maximized effectively by Worthy. On Mahomes’ behalf a key miscue was forced throw late in the first half that was intercepted resulting in his demotion from MVP status and subsequent defeat by Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas. Mahomes played well overall and his performance stood up. Although some points were lost because of penalties against them, and set the Ravens up well enough in field position to kick a field goal later, Mahomes delivered another solid game overall. He completed 20-of-28 passes for 291 yards while surpassing Len Dawson as the Chiefs all-time leader passer. Additionally, an eye-catching advanced stat was that Wide Receiver Rice caught seven passes for 103 yards; 72 of his yards after catch was the second highest total ever in one game in his career! Mahomes was often able to find him when moving upfield with an opposing defender trailing or creating gaps in coverage. — Adam TeicherNext game against Cincinnati Bengals (4:25 p.m). Baltimore Ravens Opening Their Season With Mahomes And the ChiefsDespite beginning last season 3-0 under Jackson and with seven victories under Mahomes at quarterback for their AFC Championship Game win, Thursday’s loss left Jackson’s Ravens 1-5 against Mahomes since. Jackson holds an astounding 60-19 (.759) winning percentage against all league opponents combined, including postseason play. On his final drive for Baltimore against Kansas City he drove them all the way down to their 10-yard line where Jackson had three opportunities at scoring an on-side touchdown pass. Jackson missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone before throwing what appeared to be a 10-yard touchdown pass to Likely. As time expired, But Likely’s right foot made contact with the end line, leading to its change and cancelling out as score as time ran out.Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson put forth everything possible to help Baltimore stay in contention, with nine performances of 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards; an incredible accomplishment notched before any player in NFL history. Jackson couldn’t keep pace with Mahomes, who now boasts 14 touchdown passes against Baltimore with only 3 interceptions to his name. QB breakdown: Jackson’s play inside 20-yard lines was particularly troubling to Baltimore fans. Jackson finished 1-of-4 for 9 yards in the red zone during the first half, including two off-target throws (including one batted down pass to Justice Hill ). This marked an extreme departure from last season when Jackson completed 68% of his red zone passes. As well, Jackson lost control of a fumble at his own 13-yard line during the second quarter, leading directly to a Kansas City field goal. Now in six games against Kansas City he has lost four fumbles; which are problematic given Kansas City has continued taking away Mark Andrews – Jackson’s go-to target since joining Kansas City last September. Andrews wasn’t targeted until five minutes into the second half and finished with two receptions totalling 14 yards. Andrews had averaged 21.8 yards receiving and no touchdowns during his last five meetings against Kansas City, until Jackson made headlines by surpassing Russell Wilson to become third all-time on rushing list for quarterbacks with his impressive 122 yard performance on November 4. Jackson now trails only Michael Vick (6,109 yards rushing) and Cam Newton (5,628) for career rushing yards; both played over 140 games each while Thursday marked Jackson’s 87th appearance in his professional career. With such an impactful loss coming so close on top of each other on Thursday night – what are its long-term ramifications for Baltimore Ravens fans? While one shouldn’t overreact to an opening-week loss, this opener showed once again how Mahomes has the Ravens beat. Although Baltimore knew they couldn’t even the score from last season’s AFC Championship Game loss to Kansas City, Thursday left them even less sure whether or not Jackson can beat Mahomes again this season; therefore putting their road to the Super Bowl through Arrowhead instead. — Jamison HensleyNext game against Las Vegas Raiders (1pm ET/CBS/September 15)