The NFL season is underway and Game 1 of 272 was an absolute thriller. The Kansas City Chiefs escaped with a 27-20 win after Isaiah Likely’s toe was out of bounds on a pass from Lamar Jackson on the final play of the game in the back of the end zone.
It was a tough ending for a great night for Likely, who caught 9 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown on a career night. Jackson had a big night as well with 122 yards on the ground and a 26/41 night through the air with that touchdown pass to Likely in the fourth quarter.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown — the TD pass was to rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy who also ran for a score in his NFL debut.
The start of the game was delayed by 20 minutes due to inclement weather in Kansas City just ahead of the scheduled 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff.
Both teams will now have a little extra rest heading into Week 2 where Kansas City will host the Bengals and the Ravens head back to Baltimore for their home opener agains the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Ravens are set for a chance to tie, but Isaiah Likley is down.
After a huge connection from Jackson to Bateman to get Baltimore in the red zone, the Ravens are at the 10 with 10 seconds left to play in regulation.
Isaiah Likely over 100 yards
With two catches on the final drive, and getting out of bounds on both, Likely is over 100 yards for the night as Baltimore drives to try to tie — or go ahead — late.
Mahomes catches his own pass to avoid throwing interception on late third down play
Mahomes avoided a disaster by catching his own deflected pass to avoid an incompletion and more importantly, an interception, allowing the Chiefs to take the game to the 2-minute warning.
Ravens get 3 to cut it to one score
Justin Tucker gets on the board again with 4:54 to go, and the Chiefs lead is cut to 27-20. Baltimore has outgained Kansas City, but some ill-timed penalties have stalled some offensive drives, leading to three Tucker field goal attempts. The lone turnover was a great individual effort on a strip sack by Chris Jones, but the game has felt like Baltimore has been playing catchup through the entire second half, even though there isn’t much of a statistical advantage for the Chiefs
Baltimore continues to be able to run the ball well
Lamar Jackson is over 100 yards rushing — a mark he reached just once last year — but he is the NFL’s all-time leader with 100-yard rushing games by quarterbacks. The Ravens are averaging 6.1 yards per carry, but trail by 10 as they close in on the red zone, halfway through the 4th quarter.
