Lamar Jackson and the Ravens held off the Chiefs in a primetime Sunday night football shootout in Jackson’s first career win over Kansas City.
The Chiefs started off hot and were able to get out to an early lead thanks to a pick-six by safety Tyrann Mathieu on Baltimore’s first drive. This was Mathieu’s first game of the season, as he was out in week one due to COVID-19.
Ravens scored on their next drive off an incredible display of luck. A strong run from Ty’Son Williams ended at the goal line when he fumbled the ball, only to have his teammate Devin Duvernay make a miraculous recovery and carry the ball into the endzone.
The Chiefs responded by capping off their own 92-yard scoring drive with an incredible 33-yard touchdown throw from Patrick Mahomes to Demarcus Robinson.
Mathieu found more success as well, recording another interception on the Ravens’ next drive.
From there, both teams traded two touchdowns from running backs Latavius Murray and Darrel Williams, and Kansas City would lead 21-17 at halftime.
The second half was filled with big plays from both sides that propelled this matchup to live up to the hype that surrounded it going in.
Coming out of halftime, Mahomes hit Byron Pringle over the middle of the field, and Pringle was able to outrun the Ravens defense on his way to a 40-yard touchdown.
Jackson was in his 2019 MVP form here, shredding Kansas City’s defense on the run with run-pass-option plays, gaining big chunks of yards on almost every carry.
In what was one of the more exciting plays of the evening, Jackson connected with Ravens’ wideout Marquise Brown on an unorthodox jump pass. Brown was left wide open thanks to botched coverage by the Chiefs and went on to score a 42-yard touchdown.
The Chiefs answered quickly with their own scoring drive on an exhilarating touchdown from a scrambling Mahomes pass to tight end Travis Kelce. This reception also cemented Kelce as the fastest tight-end to reach 8,000 career receiving yards.
Jackson and the Ravens answered right back with a running score from Jackson, the Chiefs defense once again demonstrating they had no answer to the Ravens’ running attack.
The Chiefs were in position to kick a potential game-winning field goal with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter, but running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire fumbled the football and the Ravens recovered.
The final score was 36-35 with Baltimore getting the win. Jackson finished the game with 239 passing yards, 107 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. Mahomes finished with 343 passing yards to go along with three touchdowns and an interception.
This game gave Mahomes his first interception and loss in the month of September over his entire career.
The Chiefs offense has been sharp thus far to no one’s surprise, but they must figure out better out their defense if they want to make another Super Bowl run.
