5 things we learned from Ravens’ season-opening loss to Chiefs

Some questions were answered while others came into focus while on Thursday.

There were numerous revealing takeaways from the Baltimore Ravens’ 27-20 loss to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night to open the 2024 regular season.

In many ways, this game looked and felt similar to defeats from the Ravens’ past with how it ultimately unfolded, but it was encouraging at times and should serve as an example of how competitive and resilient this year’s team will be moving forward.

Here are five of the main things that can be learned from Thursday’s loss.

---

Ravens are far from a finished product, yet still nearly won

The overall mood for the Ravens and their fans coming out of this game is soured by the bitterness of defeat, as it should. However, they were able to overcome adversity in the form of atrocious one-sided officiating from the first drive until the fourth quarter and come up literally an inch shy of erasing a double-digit deficit in the second half to the reigning champs is still an impressive feat in of itself.

“I’m proud of the way our guys played,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “The way we fought, the way we competed, the challenges that we faced just by the situation of the game and all the things going on around the game, and obviously the challenge that our opponent presents us, which is a great opponent, and then, the adversity throughout the course of the game is a challenge. I thought our guys met all those things – all those setbacks at times – and fought like crazy to overcome it. It looked like we had an opportunity there to tie the game up or try to win it with a two-point conversion. It didn’t happen at the end, but [I’m] proud of the way the guys fought. We’re only going to get better from here on out.”

Even with a win, the Ravens wouldn’t have been able to truly exact revenge for last year’s AFC championship loss is the regular season-opening rematch because the stakes weren’t nearly as high with chance to advance to the Super Bowl on line. Nevertheless, it will serve as a learning lesson and solid litmus test for where they currently stand and what they could be down the road.

Lamar Jackson was sensational and nearly willed his team to victory

No player looked more determined to pull this win out more than the reigning league MVP. He went 26-of-41 for 273 passing yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 90.8 and accounted for over 65 % of the Ravens’ rushing total with a game-high 122 yards on the ground.

After facing criticism for not using his legs enough in last season’s AFC title game, a slimmer and faster Jackson didn’t hesitate to take off when he needed to and when opportunities presented themselves. On numerous occasions, broken passing plays or excellent downfield coverage by the Chiefs didn’t left him no choice but to come up clutch for his team with scrambles for positive gains and first downs.

Pundits will lament how Jackson had a chance to potentially tie or set up the team for the win on the two plays prior to the infamous touchdown that was overturned by a toe when he sailed a ball over the head of an open Isaiah Likely and misfired over the middle on the next play. But if it weren’t for his Herculean efforts on that drive and throughout the game, the Ravens wouldn’t have even been in a position to potentially complete a late rally. He marched the offense 77 yards on 11 plays to the Chiefs’ 10-yard line in one minute and 50 seconds left in the game with no times outs and nearly pulled it out.

Ravens beat themselves more than anything

As horrendous as the officiating was throughout the game, the Ravens also didn’t help themselves at times with mistakes and miscues on both sides of the ball. On offense, missed blocks and early blocks by receivers on the perimeter negated positive and prevented longer gains. The most notable and crucial was by veteran Nelson Agholor, who forgot to block Chiefs All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie on a fourth-down at mid-field that resulted in a turnover on downs and eventually a Chiefs field goal.

The most pivotal miscue by the Ravens on defense was the result of a clear miscommunication in the secondary resulting in the blown coverage that left Chiefs first-round rookie speedster Xavier Worthy streaking wide open down the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown. On the play, veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey thought he had safety help over top and passed off Worthy in zone coverage only to realize there was no last line of defense when it was too late.

Safeties Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson came into the frame late and also appeared confused by what had transpired. Humphrey will get blamed and dragged on social media for giving up the touchdown but it looks like he wasn’t solely at fault. Jackson is in his first season with the Ravens replacing the third-safety role that Geno Stone led the AFC in interceptions playing last year and given that he and the rest of the starting defense didn’t take part in the preseason, some early missteps are understandable but can’t happen in such crucial moments on the game and result in scoring plays for the opposing team.

Isaiah Likely is blossoming into a play-making star

After breaking out down the stretch in the second half of last season, the third-year pro picked up right where he left off and then some. While the home team’s fans may argue otherwise in favor of their explosive rookie wideout, Likely was the most impressive non-quarterback offensive skill player on GEHA Field in the season opener, finishing with game-highs in targets (12), receptions (nine), receiving yards (111), a touchdown and nearly another.

In what was his second-career 100-plus receiving yards game and first since his rookie season in the regular season finale, Likely was virtually uncoverable in this game with how he made plays all over the field for big gains and first downs. He was one of the stars of training camp and continued to shine in his first game of the regular season despite still getting outsnapped by his three-time Pro Bowl veteran mentor, Mark Andrews on offense 59-53. Likely also made arguably the best block of the game by a player on either team when he sent Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis crashing down to Earth on a designed run by Jackson.

Likely will certainly be among the most popular waiver wire pickups in fantasy football leagues where no one had the foresight to draft him heading into Week 2. More importantly, his performance showed he can be highly productive while on the field at the same time as Andrews.

Offensive line had an up but mostly down performance

The expected “hiccups” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta foresaw the Ravens’ revamped blocking unit undergoing were evident and occurred early and often against the Chiefs. Jackson was under duress for most of the night which prevented him from being able to consistently push the ball downfield and settling for shorter passes. Many of his best plays came on scrambles or instances where he had to buy himself more time to throw.

First-year starting right guard Daniel Faalele struggled for most of the night, second-round rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten gave up a strip sack on his first play of the game and veteran utility lineman Patrick Mekari, who started the game and played most of the snaps at right tackle, was charged with allowing a team-high four pressures by Pro Football Focus.

Outside of the bogus illegal formations penalties, veteran left tackle Ronnie Stanley played excellently, but the right side left much to be desired. To run and pass protect better, they will need to step up and play better or find the right combination that will even if it means turning to the rookie full-time after he bounced back from his early mishap or inserting fourth-year pro Ben Cleveland as the starter at right guard where he is a natural compared to Faalele who was a career tackle before this year’s training camp.