COMPLETE RESULTS

1. Worthy debut. The 2024 NFL Kickoff Game was delayed by 20 minutes due to a thunderstorm. But fans who had to wait were rewarded with a little lightning instead – speed. Thursday night was just a taste of what we can expect from Xavier Worthy from the moment the Chiefs made a trade to get him in the draft. Worthy’s first NFL touchdown was a lateral, brilliant 21-yard touchdown run on an end-around that tied the game. His second was a 12-yard crosser. Worthy’s blistering speed was evident on both plays. Patrick Mahomes Worthy only targeted him again in the first half when he threw him short on a pass in the end zone – and to the rookie’s credit, he turned into a defender and swatted the supposed 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 touchdown catch against a seemingly broken Ravens defense. That was it – three touches, 68 yards, two touchdowns. But since the Ravens were on Travis Kelce And Rashee RiceWorthy made the most of his limited appearances and made a terrific NFL debut.
2. A toe probably ruins Lamar’s great night. When Mark Andrews was out last season with a leg injury, it caused Isaiah probably an opportunity to show the Ravens what he can do in a more important role. He was probably good last season, but when the Chiefs put pressure on him, Zay Flowers in the second half, held him to a catch for minus 2 yards, Likely looked like Lamar Jacksons best weapon, while Andrews seemed like an afterthought. Jackson ripped the Chiefs apart with his legs (122 yards) and his arm, especially Likely in the second half. Likely finished the game 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 hero of opening night, hauling in what could have been a touchdown — John Harbaugh was ready to make two — that helped the Ravens to a comeback win. The problem? Likely’s toe was a touch out of bounds on what ended up being the final play of a thrilling first game. It was a great performance by Likely, who also provided a huge block on the Chiefs’ ball. Georg Karlaftiswhich cleared the way for a Jackson offense. The Ravens were close on the opening play, and Jackson missed a completely free Flowers in the end zone one play earlier, but both tight end and quarterback carried their team for most of the game.
3. McDuffie passed a major test, but the Chiefs defense has other problems. There was great concern when the Chiefs of L’Jarius Sneed that it could have a trickle-down effect on the Chiefs’ secondary. It was not so much about whether Trent McDuffie could take on the CB1 role, although it meant more difficult assignments and more snaps outside. On Thursday, McDuffie struggled a little early in his duel with Zay Flowers and even had to go to the blue medical tent at one point in the first half. But McDuffie came back to beat Flowers just before the line with a great tackle on fourth down and keep him in check for most of the second half. But the rest of the defense had its problems too, especially keeping Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely in check. Jackson made several defenders look ridiculous – Nick Bolton more than once – in open space and even fought through a few tackle attempts to gain extra yards. The Chiefs also couldn’t really pressure Jackson or get him to the ground, allowing him to create on the fly. According to Next Gen Stats, he probably caught passes against seven different Chiefs defenders and nearly scored the game-winning goal. The Chiefs had two big red zone breakdowns in the final minute but were able to pull away with the win. The defense had a strip sack and two stops on downs, but it was far from the cleanest performance.
4. Henry calm in Ravens debut. About the Ravens’ courageous opening push, in which they survived three penalties and converted three third tries, Derrick Henry capped it off with a 5-yard touchdown run that put the Ravens ahead 7-0. It was Henry’s fifth run of the drive and a strong start for the Ravens’ big free agent signing. Henry then touched the ball just three more times in the entire first half, finishing with 13 carries for 46 yards and not a single catch on two attempts. Henry averaged 16.5 carries per game with the Titans last season and had six games with 13 or fewer, so this wasn’t a shockingly low effort by recent Henry standards. And with the Ravens trailing by two points in the second half, Henry was taken off the field and replaced by Justice Hilland the ball was mostly in Lamar Jackson’s hands, so there was clearly a flow of play effect working against him in Henry’s debut. He converted a huge run on fourth-and-1 with 6:34 left in the game – his last touch – that helped the Ravens stay in the game despite being down by 10 points. Hill had one run and Flowers had two. The rest of the run attempts went to Jackson and Henry. You can’t read too much into this one, although it does illustrate Henry’s limitations when the Ravens are trailing and/or picking up the pace.
5. Despite minor problems, the Chiefs’ offense remains dangerous. The Chiefs were without a wide receiver Marquise Brownas expected, and they started with a rookie left tackle in Kingsley Suamataia. Even if we expect some fumbles, if we were to measure Thursday’s offensive performance by 2023 standards, it would be up there rather than down. Patrick Mahomes had pretty modest passing numbers (291 yards), but there were some close calls that could have boosted those by quite a bit. It wasn’t reminiscent of last year’s problems, but there were a few issues with passes hitting receivers’ hands, including two from the running backs. Travis Kelce had a drop. The same goes for JuJu Smith-Schuster in his first game back. Even Mahomes threw a silly interception and was almost caught a second time, but saved himself in the final minutes by catching his own pass. Suamataia allowed a sack and got a holding penalty that negated a 9-yard run in the red zone. It wasn’t the best performance we’ve seen from this group. But Rashee Rice was great, Isiah Pacheco has put pressure on the Ravens, and Mahomes has a shiny new toy in Xavier Worthy. Again, there’s still work to be done, but the champs faced one of their toughest tests in Week 1. They’re still the champs for a reason.

Next-gen stats of the game: In his first NFL career touchdown, Xavier Worthy scored on a 21-yard end-around run for +14 rushing yards over expected. Worthy, who topped out at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine with a record-breaking 4.21-second 40-yard dash of 24.41 mph, topped out at 18.45 mph on his touchdown run.

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