Jackson’s career-worst yardage game can’t match Mahomes’ masterpiece.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2020, M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – There are times when a much-hyped showdown doesn’t live up to the hype. There are times when an elite NFL team looks anything but. And there are times when good reputations are deserved, beefy resumes are earned, and budding greatness must be acknowledged.
To be sure, Vince Lombardi Trophies aren’t awarded in September. So Monday night’s 34-20 win by the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs over the host Ravens doesn’t slam the door on Baltimore’s promising season. But, if anything, this game showed exactly why the Chiefs have re-ascended to the top of the football world. And it also showed why the Ravens have work to do to reclaim the summit it occupied eight seasons ago.
Had this game been close–as many forecasters said it would–at least both sides would have been able to feel good about their efforts. But for Baltimore, that’s not how things turned out. And the person most responsible was Patrick Mahomes, who’s generally regarded as the NFL’s best quarterback. Mahomes used his usual repertoire of rush-avoidance moves and devil-may-care throws to complete 31 of 42 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns. He played to a high-flying passer rating of 133.5. What’s more, Mahomes wasn’t sacked, had few problems in the pocket, and emerged from the contest as the fastest quarterback in league history to surpass 10,000 career passing yards.
But the Ravens appeared undaunted after the final whistle. “They handled it well,” said cornerback Jimmy Smith. “We don’t have a team of quitters…it’s going to be a lesson. It’s one game. It’s not the Super Bowl. I don’t think we’re discouraged at all.”
On this night, KC’s leader outdid reigning league MVP Lamar Jackson, who was 15-for-28 for only 97 yards, one TD, and no pass longer than 19 yards. Along the way, Jackson was sacked four times and .. ouch … had a 73.1 passer rating.
On the other side of the field, five Chiefs’ receivers pulled in at least four catches each, and Mahomes’ touchdown passes went to four different targets. Many of the his clutch throws were pulled off on third down when the Chiefs converted an ungodly ten of 13 plays. Those conversions made it possible for KC to hold the ball for … second ouch … 33:56 of the game.
At first, it looked as though Baltimore would be the team imposing its will on the visitors. Jackson’s 30-yard run keyed a sharp-looking, ground-oriented opening drive. But on fourth down inside Chiefs territory, head coach John Harbaugh didn’t exercise his usual go-for-it tendency, settling for a field goal. It was a curious call, considering how the Ravens had scored 17 first-quarter touchdowns since the start of last season, the league’s most.
The Chiefs answered with a 75-yard, six-play drive that featured a 22-yard end-around by the speedy Tyreek Hill. Mahomes capped it off with a three-yard scoring run, and the Chiefs would never trail again.
Both teams committed six penalties and gave the ball away once, but the Chiefs’ penchant for coming up with clutch plays at the right times seemed to make the difference. The Chiefs got their first working margin of the night on just such a play when Mahomes tossed an underhanded shovel pass to fullback Anthony Sherman for a five-yard touchdown that extended the visitors’ early lead to 13-3.
The Ravens sprang to life after that as rookie draft pick Devin Duvernay returning the subsequent kickoff 93 yards into the west (Russell Street) end zone for a touchdown. Duvernay is the fifth rookie in team history to score that way. But the Chiefs answered smartly and with poise, driving 73 yards on six plays as Mahomes found four different targets. He capped it off with a sharply-lofted 20-yard touchdown pass to Hill, who had gotten past Marcus Peters, down the right seam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSir40PPBHQ
In the third quarter, trailing by 27-10, the Ravens didn’t show the same poise against a bend-but-don’t-break Chiefs defense (the league’s sixth-worst in yardage, but sixth-best in scoring). On fourth-and-2, right tackle Orlando Brown, Jr. false-started, forcing the Ravens to kick a field goal instead, one that left them trailing by two touchdowns.
Baltimore got one of the scores it needed, sparked by Calais Campbell’s fourth-and-one stop of Sherman. And Gus Edwards’ hard running set up a five-yard touchdown catch by Nick Boyle, cutting the Ravens’ deficit to seven, 27-20. But the Chiefs turned out the lights with a 75-yard, 13-play drive that culminated when left tackle Eric Fisher lined up as an eligible receiver and caught a two-yard touchdown pass to complete the scoring.
With the loss, the Ravens (2-1) fell into second place in the AFC North behind unbeaten Pittsburgh. Next up is a short road trip to take on the Washington Football Team (Sunday, October 4, 1 p.m.).
For now, when it comes to naming a team that deserves lots of hype, that name is Kansas City–its beefy resumes earned and budding greatness acknowledged.
