The NFL season is underway and after an explosive first two drives, the defenses have largely taken over as the Chiefs lead the Ravens 13-10 at halftime in Kansas City. The Ravens opened the game with a 70-yard touchdown drive, capped-off by a 6-yard rushing touchdown by Derrick Henry in his first game as a Raven.
Kansas City responded immediately with a 5-play, 57-yard drive that took less that three minutes that ended with a 21-yard Xavier Worthy touchdown run on his first touch in the NFL.
After that opening flurry, the two defenses bowed up, with Baltimore stopping two Kansas City drives in the red zone that led to field goals, while Justin Tucker missed a 53-yarder but made a 25-yarder at the end of the first half for the Ravens.
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.
How to watch Ravens vs. Chiefs in NFL Kickoff season opener:
-
Date: Thursday, Sept. 5
-
Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
-
Location: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, Mo.
-
TV Channel: NBC
-
Streaming: Peacock, Fubo
Live52 updates
-
Lamar Jackson, nearly Isaiah Likely connect for Touchdown pass in thrilling finish
It couldn’t have been closer. On the Final play of the game, the Ravens came up just inches away from a chance to tie the game with Isaiah Likely catching the ball in the end zone but a toe touching the chalk made it an incomplete pass.
-
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.
-
Timeout with 1:11 remaining for Leo Chenal
The Chiefs’ linebacker has to come out after the injury timeout, stopping the clock. The Ravens are out of timeouts.
-
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.
-
Pacheco’s strong night continues
The gritty Chiefs’ Running back picked up a huge 1st down to get the clock under 3 minutes, rolling over defenders to fight to the marker and put K.C. one first down away from being able to salt the game away.
-
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.
-
Mahomes finds Worthy to put Kansas City back up 10
After scrambling for a big 1st down in a huge 3rd down spot, Mahomes hit a wide open Xavier Worthy streaking down the right sideline for a 35-yard score. The first TD pass of the season for Mahomes and second score of the day for Worthy who’s having a huge NFL debut.
-
Rice looking the part of a No. 1 receiver
Rashee Rice is over 100 yards in the season opener. He had just two 100-yard games in his first season, and he has looked like a top-option for Patrick Mahomes against one of the best defenses in the NFL.
-
Baltimore strikes with 49-yard Jackson to Likely TD pass
Lamar Jackson’s magic was on full display with this one. The reigning league MVP gets the Ravens back in it, escaping pressure to get the ball to his emerging No. 2 tight end who tightroped down the sideline to cut Kansas City’s lead to 20-17.
-
Lamar Jackson makes a play with his legs, picking up a big 1st down
On a tough third down, Jackson’s 16-yard run got Baltimore into K.C. territory. He’s up to 79 yards rushing and the third quarter isn’t even done yet. Jackson followed that up with another long run that was called back by a hold on center Tyler Linderbaum.
-
the Chiefs addition of Xavier Worthy has the effect of opening things up for Rashee Rice underneath. Which is why I thought Rice would be a focus for the Chiefs tonight. https://t.co/euWB3wkD63
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 6, 2024
-
Baltimore’s drive runs out of gas and the Ravens punt
The field is flipped and the Chiefs will start on their own 10-yard line. The Ravens have run the ball well, averaging 5.4 yards per carries on 19 rushes. But moving the ball early in drives has been a challenge, setting up long down-and-distance situations
-
Back-to-back big pass plays have Baltimore on the move
The Ravens have opened up their drive following up the K.C. touchdown with a couple of big pass place to get into Chiefs territory. A third-and-12 conversion to Justice Hill and a big pickup by Mark Andrews set up Baltimore across the 50.
-
Isiah Pacheco puts Chiefs up 20-10 with 1-yard touchdown run
The Chiefs go up by 10 with a 6-play, 81-yard drive, highlighted by a 33-yard Rashee Rice catch-and-run and a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty that set up Pacheco for the 1-yard score. He had 7 rushing touchdowns last year in his second season as Kansas City’s lead back.
-
Rashee Rice’s big night continues
5 catches for 80 yards for Rice who just had a big, 33-yard catch to get K.C. moving on the Chiefs’ first drive of the second half. Rice was the second leading receiver for the Chiefs last season with 79 catches and 938 yards.
-
Fitting for a 2-time NFL MVP
Here’s the all-time list:
-
Michael Vick: 6,109 yards
-
Cam Newton: 5,631 yards
-
Lamar Jackson: 5,321+ yards
-
-
About that take about Xavier Worthy
NBC commentator Rodney Harrison was blunt about his analysis of Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy.
In what felt like an “Inside the NBA” moment, his colleagues had fun with the comment at halftime in wake of Worthy scoring a first-half TD.
