There were some revealing lessons to be learned from the Baltimore Ravens’ 27-20 loss to the two-time reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, which opened the 2024 regular season.

In many ways, this game looked and felt similar to previous Ravens losses, but it was also encouraging at times and should serve as an example of how competitive and resilient the team will be this year.

Here are the five key lessons we can learn from Thursday’s loss.

Ravens far from finished, but almost won

The overall mood for the Ravens and their fans after this game was soured by the bitterness of defeat, as it should be. However, they were able to overcome adversity in the form of terribly one-sided refereeing from the first drive through the fourth quarter and literally came within an inch of overcoming a double-digit second-half deficit against the reigning champions, which is an impressive feat in 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 we faced with the situation of the game and all the things that were going on around the game, and obviously the challenge that our opponent presents us, who is a great opponent, and then the adversity throughout the game is a challenge. I thought our guys took all that stuff – all that adversity sometimes – and fought like crazy to overcome it. It looked like we had a chance to tie the game or try to win it with a two-point conversion. It didn’t end up happening, but (I’m) proud of the way the guys fought. We’re only going to get better from here.”

Even with a win, the Ravens wouldn’t really get revenge for losing the AFC championship in last year’s season-opening rematch, as the stakes weren’t as high with a chance to advance to the Super Bowl. Still, it will serve as a valuable lesson and a solid litmus test for where they are now and where they could be in the future.

Lamar Jackson was sensational and almost led his team to victory

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

After being criticized for underusing his legs in last season’s AFC title game, a leaner, quicker Jackson didn’t hesitate to step up when needed and when opportunities presented themselves. On numerous occasions, broken up passing plays or excellent downfield coverage by the Chiefs left him no choice but to help his team with scrambles for positive gains and first downs.

Pundits will lament how Jackson had a chance to potentially tie or set the team up for the win on the two plays leading up to the infamous touchdown that was turned around by a toe when he sailed a ball over the head of an open Isaiah Likely and missed 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 even be in a position to complete a late rally. He marched the offense 77 yards on 11 plays to the Chiefs’ 10-yard line with one minute, 50 seconds remaining in the game with no timeouts and nearly pulled it off.

Ravens beat themselves more than anything

As terrible as the officiating was throughout the game, the Ravens didn’t always help themselves with mistakes and misses on both sides of the ball. On offense, missed blocks and early blocks by receivers on the perimeter negated the positives and prevented longer gains. The most notable and crucial one came from veteran Nelson Agholor, who failed to block Chiefs All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie on fourth down at midfield, resulting in a turnover on downs and ultimately a Chiefs field goal.

The Ravens’ most crucial blunder on defense came as a result of a clear miscommunication in the secondary, resulting in the missed coverage that allowed Chiefs first-round rookie speedster Xavier Worthy to run wide open down the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown. On the play, veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey thought he had safety help and passed Worthy into zone coverage, but when it was too late, he realized there was no last line of defense.

Safeties Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson entered the picture late and also seemed confused by what had happened. Humphrey will get the blame and social media abuse for giving away the touchdown, but it appears he wasn’t solely to blame. Jackson is in his first season with the Ravens, replacing the third safety role that Geno Stone led the AFC in interceptions last year. Considering he and the rest of the starting defense were not in the preseason, some early missteps are understandable, but they can’t happen at such crucial times in the game and result in scoring plays for the other team.

Isaiah Likely develops into a playmaking star

After breaking through in the final stretch in the second half of last season, the third-year pro picked up where he left off and then some. While hometown fans might argue otherwise in favor of their explosive rookie wideout, Likely was the most impressive non-quarterback offensive skill player at 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 unstoppable in this game as he made plays for big gains and first downs from all over the field. He was one of the stars of training camp and continued to shine in his first game of the regular season, despite still being outscored by his three-time Pro Bowl veteran mentor Mark Andrews in the 59-53 offense. Likely also made arguably the best block of the game by either team when he sent Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis crashing to earth on a designed run by Jackson.

He will likely be one of the most popular players in fantasy football leagues where no one had the foresight to draft him before Week 2. More importantly, his performance showed that he can be very productive on the field, just like Andrews.

The attacking line had a positive but mostly negative performance

The expected hiccups that Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta anticipated were evident and came early and often against the Chiefs. Jackson was under pressure most of the night, unable to push the ball downfield consistently and forced to settle for shorter passes. Many of his best plays came on scrambles or moments where he had to give himself more time to throw.

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 four pressures, the most on the team, by Pro Football Focus.

Outside of the foul penalties for illegal formations, veteran left tackle Ronnie Stanley played excellently, but the right side left a lot to be desired. In order to run and pass better, they need to either step up and play better or find the right combination that does so, even if that means moving the rookie full-time after he bounces back from his early misstep or starting fourth-year pro Ben Cleveland at right guard, where he’s a natural compared to Faalele, who was a career tackle before this year’s training camp.