Ravens’ comeback falls short against Chiefs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs managed to continue their streak of dominance over a key AFC rival, winning 27-20 in a heartbreaking season-opener for the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night.

The game ended with tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe going out of bounds when he could have scored a touchdown in the final seconds.

Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a two-touchdown performance from rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, the Chiefs picked up where they left off in the Super Bowl and appear to be legitimate contenders for the elusive three-peat.

Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson fell to 1-5 in his career against Mahomes.

Here are the keys to the game:

The Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs signed Worthy to help bring big-time play back to their offense. He won’t always do it as well in the future as he did in his NFL debut, but judging by what happened Thursday night, he’s going to have a big impact.

Worthy appears to fit right in with a wide receiver group that includes Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown. Brown didn’t play against the Ravens due to a shoulder injury but is expected to return early in the season.

Purchase/sale in case of exceptional performance: Worthy scored a touchdown on a 21-yard run the first time he had the ball in an NFL game. In the fourth quarter, he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass. While he doesn’t always score twice in a game, expect Worthy to make that kind of impact. He won’t necessarily get a lot of touches, but he’ll make the most of them.

QB Distribution: Mahomes made a critical mistake by forcing a pass late in the first half that was intercepted. It cost the Chiefs a chance at times and allowed the Ravens to get good field position, which they used to kick a field goal. Otherwise, it was a solid game from Mahomes. He completed 20 of 28 passes for 291 yards while passing Len Dawson as the Chiefs’ all-time leading passer.

Mind-blowing advanced statistics: WR Rice, who caught seven passes for 103 yards, had 72 after the catch, the second-most yards in a game of his career. Mahomes was often able to find him when he was moving upfield with a defender trailing or in other coverage. — Adam Teicher

Next game:vs. Cincinnati Bengals (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS, Sept. 15)

Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens’ season started the way their previous season ended: a frustrating loss to Mahomes and the Chiefs.

In a rematch of the AFC Championship Game, Thursday night’s loss dropped Jackson and the Ravens to 1-5 against Mahomes. Jackson is 60-19 (.759) against the rest of the league, including the playoffs.

On the final drive, Jackson drove the Ravens to the Kansas City 10-yard line, where he had three shots toward the end zone. Jackson missed an open Zay Flowers in the end zone and then appeared to throw a 10-yard touchdown to Likely. But Likely’s right foot hit the end line, turning the score around as time expired.

Jackson, the reigning NFL MVP, did everything he could to keep Baltimore in the game with his ninth 200-yard passing and 100-yard rushing game, the most in NFL history. Despite Jackson’s performance, the Ravens couldn’t keep up with the big plays of Mahomes, who now has 14 touchdown passes and three interceptions in his career against Baltimore.

QB Distribution: The most frustrating part of Jackson’s game was his play inside the 20-yard line. In the first half, Jackson finished 1 of 4 for 9 yards in the red zone with two passes off target, including a pass knocked down to a wide-open Justice Hill. It was a far cry from last season, when Jackson completed 68 percent of his passes in the red zone. Additionally, Jackson fumbled the ball at his own 13-yard line in the second quarter, which set up a Chiefs field goal. Jackson has now lost four fumbles in six games against Kansas City.

Worrying trend: The Chiefs continue to part ways with tight end Mark Andrews, who has been Jackson’s favorite target. Andrews wasn’t targeted until five minutes into the second half and finished with two receptions for 14 yards. In his previous five games with Kansas City, Andrews averaged 21.8 receiving yards and had no touchdowns.

Mind-blowing statistic: With 122 rushing yards, the slimmer Jackson passed Russell Wilson for third place on the all-time rushing list. Jackson now trails only Michael Vick (6,109 rushing yards) and Cam Newton (5,628). But Vick and Newton have played in more than 140 games. On Thursday night, Jackson played in his 87th career game.

The biggest question: What are the implications of the Ravens’ loss to the Chiefs? While we shouldn’t overreact to a Week 1 loss, this season opener showed once again that Mahomes has the Ravens’ number. Baltimore knew it couldn’t match the score from last season’s AFC Championship Game loss, but the Ravens left Thursday with even more uncertainty about whether they could topple Mahomes. Now, after losing that pivotal game, the Ravens’ road to the Super Bowl may have to go through Arrowhead, where Jackson is 0-3. –Jamison Hensley

Next game: vs. the Las Vegas Raiders (1 p.m. ET, CBS, Sept. 15)