Ravens vs. Chiefs: Highlights, final score, stats from thrilling NFL season opener

By a toe.

That’s how close the Baltimore Ravens came from having a shot to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 NFL regular-kickoff Thursday.

Instead, the Chiefs walked away 27-20 winners after a replay review confirmed Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely’s toe had landed out of bounds on what was initially ruled a touchdown with zero seconds left on the clock. Baltimore appeared poised to eschew overtime and go for a two-point conversion, ending the game right then and there. John Harbaugh's crew didn’t end up getting that chance.

The reigning Super Bowl-champion Chiefs began their quest for a three-peat by featuring rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy, their first-round pick from Texas. After the Ravens opened with a touchdown drive, Kansas City answered with a reverse to Worthy, who had a contingent of red leading his way to the end zone to even the game. Worthy caught his first touchdown pass early in the fourth to make it 27-17.

For the Ravens, it was Likely’s career day that gave them a chance at his final-second heroics. He finished with nine catches for 111 yards and a touchdown. The score came on a broken play in which Lamar Jackson threw him a 50-50 ball and Likely did the rest by avoiding would-be tacklers, with the run showing why Baltimore will run plenty of two tight-end sets this season.

Jackson finished with 122 rushing yards on 16 attempts but had modest production as a passer; he completed 26 of 41 attempts for 273 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per throw.

The officials singled out the positioning of offensive tackles on the line of scrimmage, and the point of emphasis cost the Ravens throughout the game, from their first drive to the fourth quarter. But Baltimore twice hit Patrick Mahomes, who was 20-for-28 for 291 yards with an interception, out of bounds, and the final penalty split had the Ravens ahead 7-6.

Derrick Henry (13 rushes, 46 yards) scored in his Ravens debut, and running back counterpart Isiah Pacheco (15 rushes, 45 yards) found the end zone for the Chiefs. Rashee Rice, still facing eight felony charges stemming from a multi-vehicle crash this offseason, had seven catches for 103 yards on routes predominately over the middle of the field.

Here's a look back at all the action from the game:

Final stats from Chiefs' win over Ravens

• Total yards: Ravens 452, Chiefs 353

• First downs: Ravens 25, Chiefs 21

• Third-down conversions: Ravens 7-14, Chiefs 4-9

• Patrick Mahomes: 20/28, 291 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 1 interception

• Lamar Jackson: 26/41, 273 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 16 carries, 122 rushing yards

• Derrick Henry: 13 carries, 46 rushing yards

• Isiah Pacheco: 15 carries, 45 rushing yards, 1 TD

• Xavier Worthy: 2 catches, 47 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 1 carry, 21 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

• Rashee Rice: 7 catches, 107 receiving yards

• Travis Kelce: 3 catches, 34 receiving yards

• Isaiah Likely: 9 catches, 111 receiving yards, 1 TD

Ravens lose heartbreak as Isaiah Likely’s touchdown overturned

The Ravens took over possession of the football down 27-20 with 1:50 remaining on their own 13-yard line.

Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely marched Baltimore down the field to get into position. Then Jackson found wideout Rashod Bateman for a 38-yard gain to put the football on Kansas City’s 10-yard line with 43 seconds on the clock.

On first-and-goal from the 10, Jackson missed Likely in the end zone. The tight end had to exit for one snap due to injury. On the next play, Jackson missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone as the game clock dwindled down to five seconds.

The Ravens had one more opportunity to tie the game.

On third-and-goal, Jackson took the snap, scrabbled to buy extra time and fired a bullet pass to Likely who hauled in the football in the back of the end zone.

The officials initially ruled the catch a touchdown but upon review the call was reversed to an incomplete pass as the Ravens lost in a heartbreak.

Likely had a career-best nine catches, 111 receiving yards and a touchdown in the loss.

Ravens stay within striking distance

The Ravens needed a field goal and a touchdown. Head coach John Harbaugh opted for the field goal first, given the circumstances.

Baltimore was whistled for another illegal formation penalty while facing a fourth-down decision in the red zone. Harbaugh sent Justin Tucker on for a 32-yard field goal, which he made with 4:54 left in the game to make it 27-20. Lamar Jackson had 22 rushing yards on the drive and is up to 110 yards (14 attempts) on the ground for the game. Derrick Henry converted a fourth-and-2 to keep the drive alive.

Now the pressure is on the Baltimore defense to give Jackson and the offense the ball back.

Rookie Xavier Worthy hits pay dirt again

Confusion in the Baltimore secondary led to a Chiefs score.

On second-and-10 from the Baltimore 35-yard line, Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey was in a cover two zone and thought he had safety help over the top. But there was no safety in the vicinity as rookie receiver Xavier Worthy ran a go route and Patrick Mahomes hit him in stride for a 35-yard touchdown to lift Kansas City to a 27-17 lead with 10:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Worthy now has two touchdowns in his very first NFL game. He had a rushing score in the first quarter.

Worthy’s TD capped off an eight-play, 70-yard drive for Kansas City.

Mahomes has 279 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception in the contest.

Ravens cut lead with Isaiah Likely's highlight-reel TD

The Ravens are going to use plenty of two tight-end sets this season, between Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. A third-year player, Likely has slowly emerged as a trusted target of Lamar Jackson. When Andrews, Jackson’s favorite option for many seasons, suffered an ankle injury that cost him a chunk of last season, it was Likely who stepped up. In the final six games of the season, he had 21 catches for 322 yards and five touchdowns.

In the opener against the Chiefs, Likely has been on the other end of Jackson’s passes far more frequently than Andrews. In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, he had six targets compared to one for Andrews. Likely was up to five catches for 87 yards – none more important than the 49-yard touchdown pass he caught on the first play of the final quarter. That cut the Ravens’ deficit to 20-17, as the Chiefs drove back down the field in pursuit of making it a two-possession game once again.

Ravens' Kyle Van Noy out with eye injury

The Ravens announced that linebacker Kyle Van Noy is ruled out for the remainder of Thursday night's game with an eye injury. Van Noy has one tackle on the night.

Chiefs score: Isiah Pacheco 1-yard touchdown run

The Chiefs extended their lead on the first drive of the second half.

Patrick Mahomes engineered a six-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to lift Kansas City to a 20-10 advantage with 11:28 remaining in the third quarter.

Mahomes had three completions on the possession, but the drive was capped off by a hard 1-yard touchdown run by running back Isiah Pacheco during which he pushed the pile across the goal line.

Mahomes is currently 12-of-18 passing for 188 yards and he tossed an interception in the first half.

Halftime score: Chiefs 13, Ravens 10

The Ravens had a chance to take the lead at the end of the first half, but the Chiefs defense held firm on two plays from inside the 10-yard line to force a Justin Tucker 25-yard field goal.

Justin Tucker misses from deep, then Ravens get ball back

Justin Tucker missing is a rare sight, but it didn’t take long in the 2024 season. The five-time All-Pro pulled his first field goal attempt of the year wide left from 53 yards away. The game remained 13-7 in favor of Baltimore.

Tucker was 32 of 37 with a long of 50 yards last season.

The Chiefs did not hang onto the good fortune for long. On the first play of their drive, Patrick Mahomes was hit as he threw and the flailing pass wound up in the arms of Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith. Baltimore took over near midfield.

Who is Len Dawson?

If you're not an NFL historian, Dawson's name might not be a familiar one – though his name surfaced Thursday night when Patrick Mahomes bypassed him as the Chiefs' all-time leader in passing yards.

But before Mahomes came along in 2017, Dawson was undoubtedly the greatest quarterback in Kansas City's history and the only one aside from Mahomes to lead the franchise to a Super Bowl – falling to the Packers in Super Bowl 1 before upsetting the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings and their Purple People Eaters defense in Super Bowl 4, the final one played before the AFL and NFL officially merged for the 1970 season. A Hall of Famer who played 14 of his 19 seasons with the Dallas Texans/Chiefs organization, Dawson will hold the franchise record for passing TDs (237) a while longer, though Mahomes will almost certainly claim that later this season, too.

Dawson was also a seminal figure in the rise of the AFL, leading the Texans/Chiefs to three league titles and further legitimizing the AFL with that 23-7 Super Bowl 4 blowout of the Vikes, which came a year after the New York Jets' more famous upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 3. He is one of three quarterbacks from Purdue (Bob Griese, Drew Brees) to start and win the Super Bowl.

Following his retirement after the 1975 season, Dawson embarked on another renowned career in media, serving as the host of HBO's then-groundbreaking "Inside the NFL" for a quarter century until he retired after the 2001 season. The Chiefs named the broadcast booth at Arrowhead Stadium after Dawson in 2017.

He died almost exactly two years ago at the age of 87.

Patrick Mahomes sets Chiefs' career passing yards record

The Chiefs managed to get a field goal after Baltimore turned the football over on downs.

Kansas City took over on its own 49-yard line and went 38 yards down the field to get kicker Harrison Butker in position for a successful 31-yard field goal to give the team a 13-7 advantage.

The possession was highlight by a 23-yard completion to tight end Travis Kelce that gave Mahomes the Chiefs’ all-time career passing record.

The record was previously held by Chiefs Hall of Fame QB Len Dawson (28,507).

Chris Jones wreaks havoc, forces Lamar Jackson fumble on sack

That was a tough assignment for Roger Rosengarten.

The rookie right tackle from Washington had to deal with Chris Jones rushing right at him and it wasn’t much of a contest. Jones easily maneuvered around Rosengarten and as Lamar Jackson stepped up in the pocket, the All-Pro defensive tackle pawed at the reigning MVP. The ball came out, the Chiefs recovered, and Kansas City took over in the red zone.

A Travis Kelce holding penalty on the first play afterward, however, would push the offense back. Kansas City would settle for a 32-yard Harrison Butker field goal to go up 10-7 early in the second quarter.

Ravens extend sack streak to 39 games

Ravens LB Trenton Simpson and DT Nnamdi Madubuike combined for a sack at the end of the first quarter to extend the team’s consecutive game sack streak to 39 games.

The Ravens came into Thursday with a streak of 38 straight games with a sack, the longest active sack streak in the NFL.

Madubuike had a team-high and career-best 13 sacks last season.

Ravens RB comparison

Baltimore, the NFL's top-ranked rushing team in 2023, infamously used its running backs to run the ball 6 times (for 23 yards) in last season's 17-10 loss to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game.

With the first quarter not yet complete tonight, RB Derrick Henry, the Ravens' primary offseason acquisition, has already carried six times for 18 yards and Baltimore's first TD. And though the early 3.0 yards per carry isn't impressive, Henry has a well-deserved reputation for wearing defenses down and making would-be tacklers think twice, especially as a game carries on.

First-quarter score: Chiefs 7, Ravens 7 after Xavier Worthy TD

The Chiefs showcased their wide receivers on their opening five-play, 67-yard touchdown drive.

Patrick Mahomes found wideout Rashee Rice twice for 27 yards, including once on third down to keep the chains moving.

Then on the Chiefs’ fifth offensive play, they ran a reverse to rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Worthy took the football and showcased his NFL record 40-yard dash speed on the way to a 21-yard yard touchdown run.

Kicker Harrison Butker hit the ensuing extra point to tie the ballgame at 7-7.

First-quarter score: Ravens 7, Chiefs 0 after Derrick Henry TD

Three penalties for illegal formation and seven points. That’s one way to start a season.

Baltimore marched down the field – when the offense wasn’t being called for procedural mess-ups – and Derrick Henry wasted no time in scoring his first touchdown as a Raven by plunging into the end zone from 5 yards out 7:46 into the game.

The big play came on third-and-9 when Lamar Jackson found Zay Flowers for a 19-yard gain over the middle. Jackson had two carries for 19 yards on the drive, and he smartly found Justice Hill on the flat on a third-and-11 earlier in the drive. Hill did the rest of the work with his legs by securing the first down.

There was nothing smooth about the Ravens’ processional to the end zone, though. Ronnie Stanley, the veteran left tackle, was flagged twice for not lining up in the proper position. Right tackle Patrick Mekari committed one himself.

Baltimore’s offensive line is replacing three starters from last year, and position coach Joe D’Alessandris died on Aug. 25. 

The Ravens racked up three first downs on that drive – as many they had in the AFC championship game, Mike Tirico pointed out on the NBC broadcast.

Chiefs unveil latest Super Bowl banner

Before embarking on their next title quest, the Chiefs had to celebrate their last one.

Prior to kickoff Thursday, Kansas City unveiled its fourth title banner. Raising Lombardi Trophies were Bobby Bell, Mitchell Schwartz, Chad Henne and Clark Hunt.

Chiefs pay tribute after Super Bowl parade shooting

Chiefs and Ravens players took part in a moment of silence for Lisa Lopez-Galvan, the Kansas City fan who lost her life in a shooting that marred the end of the Chiefs Super Bowl celebration. Lopez-Galvan, who was 43, was survived by husband Mike Galvan, children Marc, Adriana and stepdaughter Tiffany Banuelos, and four grandchildren. Lopez-Galvan was a devoted Chiefs fan who had a huge community presence. Also known as "DJ Lisa G," she was sought after for various events and hosted a weekly "Taste of Tejano" music night on KKFI Radio. Classy gesture for the Chiefs to honor the memory of the victim from a senseless tragedy. - Jarrett Bell

How have other Super Bowl three-peat attempts fared?

Tonight, the Chiefs embark on their quest to become the first back-to-back-to-back NFL champions since the 1967 Green Bay Packers and first to do it in the Super Bowl era. That Pack squad could have turned the trick -- it won the 1965 NFL title and Super Bowls 1 and 2 -- but missed the playoffs in 1968.

As for the seven other teams that had a shot at a Lombardi three-peat? None even made it back to the Super Bowl. A breakdown:

• Missed playoffs: 1980 Steelers, 1999 Broncos

• Lost in divisional round: 1974 Dolphins, 2005 Patriots

• Lost in conference title game: 1976 Steelers, 1990 49ers, 1994 Cowboys

Chiefs, Ravens face weather delay

Kickoff for Ravens vs. Chiefs has been pushed back to 8:40 p.m. ET due to weather conditions.

Players began returning to the field with a little more than 20 minutes until the original scheduled kickoff time of 8:20 p.m. ET.

Ravens vs. Chiefs weather: Lightning interferes with pregame warmups

Fans who arrived at Arrowhead Stadium early to take in warmups and get situated had to clear out a little less than an hour before kickoff, as there was lightning in the area from isolated thunderstorms. Players were also cleared from the field.

Ravens vs. Chiefs inactives

• Ravens: OL Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, S Beau Brade, OLB Adisa Isaac, C Nick Samac, CB T.J. Tampa, DE Brent Urban, WR Devontez Walker

• Chiefs: WR Marquise "Hollywood" Brown, OL CJ Hanson, TE Peyton Hendershot, OT Ethan Driskell, DT Marlon Tuipulotu

No major surprises on either side, with Brown already having been ruled out for what would have been his Chiefs debut with a shoulder injury.

Will Taylor Swift be at Chiefs' game vs. Ravens?

Yes, the singer is officially on hand at Arrowhead Stadium to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs in their season opener.

Swift was spotted roughly an hour and a half before kickoff.

What time is Ravens vs. Chiefs kickoff?

The two teams are set to start things off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 5.

How to watch Ravens vs. Chiefs

• TV channel: NBC

• Streaming: Peacock | Fubo (free trial)

Ravens vs. Chiefs will be broadcast nationally on NBC, with Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst) and Melissa Stark (sideline) handling the call. The game will be preceded by "Football Night in America" at 7 p.m. ET.

You can stream the game on Peacock, NBC's subscription streaming service, or on Fubo, which carries NBC and offers a free trial to select users.

Ravens vs. Chiefs predictions

• Jarrett Bell: Ravens 24-23

• Chris Bumbaca: Ravens 26-23

• Nate Davis: 27-17

• Tyler Dragon: 24-23

• Mike Middlehurst-Schwartz: 28-17

• Lorenzo Reyes: 23-17

Ravens vs. Chiefs odds, moneyline, over/under

The Chiefs are favorites to defeat the Ravens, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Looking to wager? Check out the best mobile sports betting apps offering NFL betting promos in 2024 including the ESPN BET app and Fanatics Sportsbook promo code.

• Spread: Chiefs (-3)

• Moneyline: Chiefs (-150); Ravens (+125)

• Over/under: 46.5

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Ravens vs. Chiefs injury report

• Ravens: OLB Adisa Isaac (out, hamstring)

• Chiefs: WR Marquise "Hollywood" Brown (out, shoulder)

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ravens vs. Chiefs highlights, final score, stats from NFL opener