The 2024 NFL season officially began on Thursday night at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in a game between the reigning Super Bowl Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the AFC runner-up, the Baltimore Ravens. After 207 days without football, the NFL is back.
The Baltimore Ravens opened up the game with the ball after the Chiefs won the toss and elected to differ. The new NFL kickoff rules played out for the first kickoff of the season with a touchback, moving the ball to the Chiefs’ 30-yard line. An 11-play, 70-yard drive from the Ravens ended with a 5-yard run from former Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry. A quick turnaround from the Chiefs with a couple of big plays, including a 21-yard rushing touchdown from the first-round draft pick out of Texas, Xavier Worthy. Running at 18 mph, a jet sweep play that was initially faked to the running back, Isaiah Pacheco, Patrick Mahomes decided to flip the ball to Worthy, giving him a touchdown on his first touch in the NFL. A forced punt for the Ravens ends their quarter drives, and a sack for a 10-yard loss ends the quarter.
Matt Araiza punts the ball away to start the second quarter. Chris Jones gets the first sack for the Chiefs this season, in the process, knocks the ball out of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s hands to force a fumble, giving the ball back to the Chiefs. The Chiefs had a short field for their third drive of the game, coming up short of the end zone, but Harrison Butker made a 32-yard field goal to lead the game 10-7. Trent McDuffie made a huge hit on Zay Flowers to keep Zay from gaining yards. The drive ended in a missed field goal from Justin Tucker, the NFL’s most accurate kicker, from 53 yards out.
Patrick Mahomes passed Len Dawson for the Chiefs’ all-time passing yards with a 23-yard pass to Travis Kelce, after scrambling to escape the sack from Ravens linebacker Odafe Oweh. Mahomes throws the ball across his body with a 57.4% probability for Kelce to catch the pass. The Chiefs failed to convert in the red zone and ended up settling for a field goal. Mahomes throws the first interception of the season with a pass intended for Rashee Rice. Justin Tucker makes up for his missed field goal the next drive, giving Baltimore 3 more points going into the half.
Rashee Rice makes a big 33-yard reception at the start of the 3rd quarter. Isaiah Pacheco gets his first touchdown of the 2024 season with a 1-yard rush. Pacheco needed to be pushed in after hitting a wall just inches before the goal line. 15 yards gained by Baltimore but ended in a 35-yard punt, fair caught by Mecole Hardman. The Chiefs head down the field, only getting to the Baltimore 40 and having to settle with a punt. Lamar Jackson made two huge rushes, although one being called back for a holding call after Jackson started to make the run 29 yards down the field.
Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely catches the ball for a 49-yard touchdown reception to open the fourth quarter. Likely ran for 31 yards after he caught the ball, at a speed of 18 mph. Xavier Worthy gets his second touchdown of his NFL career after a late hit on Mahomes, the same player that intercepted Patrick’s pass during the second quarter. Mahomes’ teammates were not happy about the missed late hit call by down judge Patrick Holt. Derrick Henry converted on fourth down with a 2-yard rush, ultimately leading to a 32-yard field goal. The Chiefs take their time going down the field in their last drive of the game, but come up short after Trenton Simpson batted down Mahomes’ pass on 3rd and 10. The Ravens had to drive down the field from their own 13-yard line with no timeouts. Rashod Bateman makes a huge catch toward the end of the game to give the Ravens great field position with 18 seconds left. A pass to wide open Zay Flowers, who missed reading the pass in the back of the end zone, leads to an incompletion with 10 seconds left in the game. Isaiah Likely was one toe out of bounds from catching the game-defining touchdown. The Kansas City Chiefs take the win over the Baltimore Ravens 27-20 in the NFL Kickoff game.
Kansas City will play the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The Ravens will head back home to play the Raiders next Sunday for their first home game of the season.
