Laddie Morse
The first game of the year has come and gone and it was exactly what everyone thought it might be: a battle for the ages. While the Kansas City Chiefs came out on top, it was a closer game than many Kingdom fans would have liked it to be… by a toe. What I mean by that is that the last play by the Baltimore Ravens had Isaiah Likely out of bounds at the back of the end zone… by a toe.
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Isaiah Likely’s toe which was ruled out.
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That’s how close this game was. Here’s some play-by-play of the game:
First of all, the game was delayed because of lightning in the area so they put this up on the big oval screen at Arrowhead for the patrons to observe:
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The Chiefs won the toss and of course elected to defer. Some Chiefs were back on the field 15 minutes later and the game was only delayed by 20 minutes so they kicked off at 7:40.
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The quarters were pretty close as well as the final score.
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It’s interesting that the Ravens Head Coach, John Harbaugh, was going to go for two points if the TD had stood. He was holding up two fingers indicating he’d like to go for the win. That’s often the case with coaches who’s teams are playing on the Road. The Ravens made both of their 2, two-point conversions in 2023.
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Many Kingdom fans observed that the Ravens appeared to be playing dirty, as when they hit Patrick Mahomes after he had gone out of bounds. One time, the refs called it, the other time they didn’t (see below). However, the time they called it on the Ravens, they had also called an offsetting penalty on the Chiefs, so it didn’t even count that time.
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Chris Jones
Chris Jones had a huge impact on this game. If he continues to play that way this season he may end up being the Defensive Player of the Year (DPoY) as he’s stated is his goal. He ended up with 3 total tackles, one tackle for a loss and one sack. CJ also had a strip-fumble to his credit, but I’m not sure they put those on the stat sheet (0:55):
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If he continues at this pace, he’ll have an excellent season, even if he doesn’t become the DPoY.
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Player of the Game: Xavier Worthy
Xavier Worthy, our rookie extraordinaire, had three touches and two of those were for touchdowns. One was on a trick play pitch from Patrick Mahomes (0:46):
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Sports Illustrated called Xavier Worthy’s first TD an example of Blinding Speed: “Xavier Worthy’s Blinding Speed on First Career TD Left Tyreek Hill, NFL World in Awe“
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“Worthy’s speed was showcased on the Chiefs’
opening drive of the game, as Andy Reid and Co.
drew up a brilliant trick play to get the ball in his
hands. After faking a handoff to Isiah Pacheco,
he pitched the ball to Worthy, who came flying
around the backfield and sharply turned up field.”
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Worthy’s second TD came as a result of the Ravens DBs having a broken coverage then finding himself all alone down the right sideline (0:12):
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Two Quotes of the Game
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“I did want him [Reid] to be more aggressive on that
last drive, he tends to run the ball a lot when they are
ahead and it doesn’t usually work” –Delaware Chief
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“He played that last drive to kill some of the clock
and then rely on the defense to stop Baltimore. That’s
BS, the Chiefs should’ve been in complete control
of the clock to end that game.” –Chiefs-Kings-A’s
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Chiefs-Kings-A’s reference to the clock was an important one. The Ravens came away with an advantage when it comes to time of possession: the Ravens had the ball 7:26 more than the Chiefs (33:43 to 26:17).
WR Rashee Rice led all Chiefs receivers with 7 catches for 103 yards. TE Travis Kelce had three catches and so did TE Noah Gray.
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Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes is now the all-time leading passer in Chiefs history surpassing the late great Lenny Dawson. Mahomes had 291 yards in this game, but only needed 84 to overtake Dawson. Alex Smith, God love him, asks an important question:
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What did you think of the game? Was it everything you hoped it would be?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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