Ravens Fall to Chiefs by a Toe, 27-20

The Ravens fell to the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-20, in Week 1 of the 2024 season. RSR staff react to the loss here.

Rob Shields

This game basically went exactly as I said it would. The Ravens Oline was going to struggle at times, the defense would have a miscommunication and they would have a costly turnover. I said the Ravens would lose this game and we would walk away thinking they should have won. That’s essentially what I think happened.

There was a lot to like tonight. Defense played pretty well although I don’t get why they weren’t chipping Rashee Rice at the line of scrimmage. But overall, they played well. Odafe Oweh was all over the place. Corners held up well. Most of the yards were on the linebackers.

Offensively, Derrick Henry didn’t get into much of a rhythm but had his moments. Lamar looked like 2019 Lamar with his running. He missed two potential TDs at the end of the game but I don’t think he was able to throw the pass to Likely the first time and my guess is he thought Flowers would sit down on his route instead of continuing to go. And of course Likely just missing the TD is heartbreaking.

Officiating didn’t help us either.

Chris Schisler

This team just has to lose these games in the most painful way available. A centimeter in the back of the end zone was the difference. The Ravens showed fantastic resilience. Everything went wrong. The offensive line was horrendous – the right side was inept. The odd illegal formation penalties racked up. The Ravens got some bad bounces. It was still a game. The good news is that the Ravens may have gotten their toughest game out of the way in week one.

A good gritty game went the Chiefs way. It’ll happen. The Ravens should get credit for finding ways to stay in the contest. Their plan A underwhelmed because the line limited what the offense could do. Lamar Jackson and Isaiah Likely had some crazy highlights added to their reel. Justice Hill was a big key, oddly more than Derrick Henry.

Two things are obvious. Daniel Falaale is probably going to have a tough go at right guard. His feet get stuck and he gets beat. Secondly, the Ravens must rethink their rotation at linebacker. Trenton Simpson looked good. Malik Harrison…not so much.

Lamar Jackson was both miraculously fantastic and frustratingly disappointing. He kept the team in the game with his legs. He missed two opportunities of a lifetime in the red zone. The shot to Likely was so close to glory. Harbaugh was going to go for two. That means there’s a chance the toe tap out of bounds prevented a different kind of heartbreak.

Derek Arnold

What a strange game, but such a very “Ravens” game. Lamar Jackson was the best player on the field again, and pretty much single-handedly kept his team in it for long stretches. But the Ravens offensive line, and game plan that we can only assume was put in with their expected struggles in mind, did him no favors. Derrick Henry scored his first Ravens touchdown on the season’s opening drive, then disappeared for huge stretches. That rebuilt OL was as bad as, or worse, than even the realists expected. And Todd Monken’s game plan of endless horizontal passes was quite something. Letting r0okie Roger Rosengarten line up against Chris Jones deep in his own territory for his first NFL snap – which resulted in a sack-fumble – was quite a choice.

Throw in more ridiculous clock management by a John Harbaugh-led team at the end of both halves (Jackson deserves some blame as well, especially at the end of the game, but it’s been going on for far longer than he’s been here), as well as some incredibly questionable officiating, and it was all too much to overcome against the two-time defending champs.

On the bright side, other than a busted coverage (new DC probz, sigh) and some bad results when linebackers got caught in coverage against WRs, the defense help up decently, and bailed out the offense after that early turnover and another fourth-down failure around midfield to keep things from getting out of hand early. Isaiah Likely announced himself as a budding star. If only he wore a half-a-size smaller shoe… (then we could have been lamenting another two-point conversion failure instead).

This Ravens team should win a lot of football games, but Jackson playing hero ball for 60 minutes isn’t sustainable. Let’s hope for a better offensive game plan moving forward.

Tanner George

What a heartbreaking way to open the season. Losing by a less than an inch is unbelievably painful for a team that was looking for revenge Here’s my reaction to tonight’s action:

— The Ravens clearly don’t trust their offensive line. Todd Monken was extremely limited in what he could call today simply because the coaching staff doesn’t have faith in the blockers up front. This offense was almost exclusively limited to quick/screen passes, and the holes weren’t there in the run game. Lamar was running for his life far too much. We’ll see if this unit begins to jell as the season progresses, but my hopes aren’t high.

— There’s been a changing of the guard at tight end. Tonight’s game made it overwhelmingly clear to me that the Ravens view Isaiah Likely as the TE1 of the future, and that faith was justified by a massive performance. Mark Andrews was relegated to just a pair of catches, and it seems as if he may no longer be Lamar’s most trusted target. Perhaps nothing made this more clear than Jackson looking for Likely on nearly every play on the final drive, with Andrews nowhere to be seen.

— The secondary is also a major concern. Marlon Humphrey got burned on multiple occasions, which is very disappointing considering reports of his progress in the offseason. Sure, we expected growing pains from Zach Orr, but this defense was simply a shell of its dominant 2023 iteration tonight.

— John Harbaugh didn’t have his team ready to play. There were an unacceptable amount of illegal formation penalties called, especially on Ronnie Stanley. For all the talk of building penalty discipline in the offseason, this was definitely a letdown. Harbaugh’s clock management in the second half was nothing short of abysmal, burning two timeouts in the 3rd quarter because of confusion on the defensive side of the ball. This needs to get cleaned up, since it’s little things like this that end up costing you ballgames. After all, they just lost by a toe.

Facing the Chiefs, arguably the best team in the league, is undoubtedly a tough test. However, it’s hard not to be discouraged by how the Ravens played tonight. Let’s hope they’re able to iron out some of those wrinkles next Sunday, when they welcome the Raiders to the Bank.

Kevin McNelis

Literally a game of an inch. The Ravens were as close as they could possibly have gotten to a win, and fell short by a toe on Isaiah Likely’s cleats. An absolutely horrendous way to lose a ball game.

You can’t fault the Ravens for effort. The struggling O-line made the early offense an uphill battle, but they looked SO poised in a lot of situations against arguably the best team in the NFL. They did themselves no favors by burning timeouts in defensive situations early in the second half, likely costing themselves more opportunities.

I hate to be that guy, because I despise when people complain about officiating… but that was probably THE story of the evening. Everyone wanted football to be back, but NO ONE wanted The Ref Show. Some of the calls that went against the Ravens tonight could have tipped the scales back in their favor, whether it was the atrocious roughing call on Madubuike, the phantom holding call on Linderbaum, or any of the illegal formation calls that somehow eluded the Chiefs despite lining up pretty much the exact same way.

Any one of them being the right call might have given the Ravens the inch they needed. Depending on how this season ends, this one could hurt that much more.

Darin McCann

This was one of those games that was probably amazing to watch for a fan of the other 30 teams, a huge relief for fans of the Chiefs and a bit of a gut-blow for the fans of the Ravens. But what a game.

Lamar Jackson missed a few opportunities to connect for a tying touchdown at the end of the game, fumbled on a sack that set up the Chiefs for a first-half score and was a little off on a few downfield shots. He was also probably the best player on the field on this night, and almost dragged the Ravens to an improbable win.

It’s fine. A new offensive line struggled, as we anticipated. The new coaching staff saw a few breakdowns on defense, as expected. And a few things just didn’t go the Ravens way.

And they still nearly pulled it off, thanks to remarkable performances by Jackson, Isaiah Likely and a defense that battled adversity all day.

Chad Racine

No real surprises in this game as it played out like a lot of us expected.

The offensive line is a work in progress. They weren’t disastrous and should be vastly improved later in the season

Trenton Simpson is living up to the hype and a huge upgrade in coverage over Patrick Queen. I think he’s going to have a better year than Queen this year.

I predicted an Ojabo sack so I’m happy to get that right.

Henry was a non-factor in this game and that was also not surprising. He did look a little slow in his initial first steps. He should become more of a force as the season continues.

Isaiah Likely was the best offensive player in training camp and may be the best offensive player this season.

It’s just week one. Now a nice 10-day break and the team looks like they will be legitimate contenders this season.

Nikhil Mehta

Let’s get the inexcusable out of the way: mismanaging the clock multiple times and repeated illegal formation penalties put the Ravens at a near-insurmountable deficit throughout this game. A few defensive lapses on Zach Orr’s first go-around in the regular season were to be expected – remember Mike Macdonald’s first couple of blown leads? The defense, I think, will be fine. We’re still talking about Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, here. The pass rush was there, and Mahomes was incredibly difficult to wrap up, like he always is. The defense still stood strong on several high-leverage downs, but needs to clean up their discipline when finishing plays.

The offense is a bigger worry. For years, Lamar Jackson has had to play perfect football to beat the NFL’s best teams. That’s just not sustainable for a full-season Super Bowl run. But he could only get help from Isaiah Likely down the field, partially due to Todd Monken’s screen-heavy playcalling. The Ravens clearly didn’t feel like they could pass protect adequately (and they couldn’t), which raises more questions about their offseason management of the offensive line. This unit has to get better as the season goes on, while staying healthy. Same goes for the WR corps. They struggled to get separation downfield and let the Chiefs’ DBs aggressively play downhill against screens and the run game.

But somehow, some way, the Ravens were a toe away from victory. That tells you a lot about the talent on the field, none greater than Lamar Jackson. His vibe has been different this offseason: not just more determined, but more adamant about his (and his team’s) ability to climb the NFL mountaintop. Like he has so many times in the past, he willed the Ravens through this game to within an inch of a win. It’s a worthy reminder that as long as #8 wears purple and black, there’s no game Baltimore can’t win.

Jared Pinder

This was a game where the Ravens constantly shot themselves in the foot, yet they still managed to nearly win the race. The referees were awful in this game, and the offensive line was a constant issue. The offense didn’t look in sync until the second half when they made some huge plays. The defense was not that good, and Zach Orr showed some weaknesses. How many times did he have a linebacker on Rice? The miscommunication on the Worthy receiving touchdown was the turning point for this game. They nearly pulled off a magical win that fell an inch and a potential two-point conversion short—more heartbreak for the Ravens against the Chiefs.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/09/06/knee-jerk-reactions/ravens-fall-to-chiefs-by-a-toe-27-20/