Henry McKenna

NFL reporter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There’s still no rivalry.

Patrick Mahomes is now 5-1 against Lamar Jackson. That’s a lopsided matchup if I’ve ever seen one.

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 27-20 at Arrowhead Stadium to open the 2024 NFL season on Thursday night. I know it’s a team game. But it’s also a quarterback game. Every one of these Chiefs-Ravens matchups has been a must-see. It has playoff atmosphere.

Three-time champion Mahomes shows up in these moments. Jackson — well, he can’t do it. He’s yet to prove himself on the biggest stages.

In the final moments of Thursday, Jackson had three consecutive incompletions in the end zone. Any one of them could have given the Ravens a chance to tie or win the game. First, he overthrew an open Isaiah Likely. (Given the miss, it’s worth wondering whether the Ravens should have spiked the ball to stop the clock and control his offense.) Then he went wide to a wide-open Zay Flowers. Then he threw too high for Likely. The third attempt was just now too high, pulling the tight end to the back of the end zone. He likely attempted a toe tap — but his right toe landed an inch out of bounds.

“I thought he was in,” Jackson said after the game. “I still think he was in.”

He wasn’t. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie.

If Jackson wants to be an all-time great, he has to make one of those throws. It’s that simple.

If Jackson wants to lead the Ravens past the Chiefs and to a Super Bowl, the superstar quarterback can’t just lead two touchdown drives when he’s throwing for 273 yards and running for 122. If there’s one thing we now know about Mahomes’s passing game from his matchups against Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy, it’s that 59 minutes of great play isn’t enough. It’s 60.

Lamar carried his team. But not far enough.

It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. The two-time MVP needed to be two plays better than he was. He needed a touchdown and a 2-point conversation. He and the Ravens weren’t good enough to take down Mahomes and the reigning champions on Thursday night.

“The same thing happened last year (in the AFC Championship Game). We beat ourselves,” receiver Rashod Bateman said. “We didn’t execute the game plan that we had. We weren’t successful on the plays that we needed to be successful on. And we failed.”

It was hardly a perfect game for Mahomes. He threw a costly interception late in the first half. (Though it didn’t cost Lamar enough, with the Ravens settling for a field goal after the turnover.) Mahomes also over-peppered a pair of swing passes, one to Samaje Perine in the second half and another to Isiah Pacheco in the first. Both could have resulted in big gains — and Perine’s incompletion was on a third down that, had he caught it, would have generated a first down and likely put the Chiefs in the red zone (or close to it).

What’s crazy is that Mahomes and company left enough plays on the table — and yet they still beat one of the AFC’s top prospects. The Chiefs have been winning for years without being at their best, largely because they don’t have to with the No. 15 under center.

And all they did this offseason was set up Mahomes for more success this year. It’s almost unfair.

Rookie receiver Xavier Worthy scored a touchdown on his first touchdown of the game. He later slammed the door on the Ravens in the fourth quarter when they broke their coverage on him and he punished them for a 35-yard touchdown catch. Worthy is the sixth rookie since 1970 to record a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in his first career game, and just the second to do so in the 21st century. So yeah, it was a successful start for the first-rounder.

It’s only one game, but he already seems to fit the bill for what Kansas City has been missing: a legitimate field-stretcher. He’s the guy who set the NFL combine record for the 40-yard dash. And now he’s been cast as a key player in the Chiefs’ Legion of Zoom offense.

But Worthy wasn’t even the team’s best receiver. Rashee Rice is clearly ready for WR1 duty — he finished with seven catches for 103 yards. That made life easy for Travis Kelce, who did a ton of blocking but didn’t really have to do much in the passing game. Because Mahomes’ throw time was fairly quick (2.72), it made life easier for rookie left tackle Kingsley Suamataia. It was easy to forget that the Chiefs were without Hollywood Brown, who they expect to play a significant role once he returns from a sternoclavicular injury.

All in all, the Chiefs didn’t have to struggle to win. They didn’t even have to perform particularly cleanly. It was almost like cruise control for Mahomes.

But Lamar did indeed seem to be working hard to generate production. And their new weapon, Derrick Henry, didn’t look fresh. Every carry was hard work for the 30-year-old Henry. He finished with 13 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown. It never felt like he could build up speed — the Chiefs were in the backfield too much.

Lamar and Henry had the same problem: the offensive line.

The line didn’t look like the dominant group we’ve come to expect from Baltimore. They had three new starters: guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele and tackle Patrick Mekari. Rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten also took some snaps for Mekari — and his first one didn’t go well. Defensive tackle Chris Jones shot past the rookie and stripped Jackson.

That’s part of the reason Jackson had so many rushing yards. He was quick to get out of the pocket, and he recorded 112 of his 273 passing yards on the run. His lone touchdown? That was also on the run.

“The things he can do — it’s impressive,” Ravens center Chris Lindenbaum said. “But at the end of the day, he can’t be a one-man show. Everybody has to play their part.”

In the fourth quarter, Jackson started playing hero ball. He ran, desperately trying to make things happen. Two things worked: getting the ball to Likely and running the ball to him. Likely finished with nine catches for 111 yards and a touchdown.

As for Lamar’s ground production, that was a big part of his offseason plan, as he gave his team more in the rushing game. But that also led to bigger hits. He can run more, but he also needs to take more downfield. He recently spoke to GQ Magazine about how his body was worn down last season but seemed on track to repeat that.

Saving weight doesn’t mean you make more contact.

Jackson’s vertical attempts were not on target. He was 1 of 5 passes that traveled 20 yards or more. For the most part, Jackson checked downfield and hoped that Flowers and Likely would generate yards after the catch.

Jackson didn’t get any help from tight end Mark Andrews, who is recovering from an ankle injury last season and a recent car accident. Aside from a 38-yard catch that put the Ravens in scoring position on the final drive, Bateman wasn’t productive. That was just one of his two catches. The former first-rounder was a player who probably should have shown more. The Chiefs started with a relatively unproven cornerback in Jaylen Watson, who was injured in training camp. Bateman and Jackson couldn’t take advantage of that.

Even the officials gave the Ravens a hard time, drawing numerous penalties for illegal formations from their tackles — when it looked like the Chiefs were making the same mistake but weren’t penalized. Ravens tackle Ronnie Stanley said he looked at the Chiefs’ tackles and thought their formations were worse, but he didn’t get flagged.

“It’s a little annoying,” Stanley said. “I just feel like I’m crazy, I don’t know where I stand. We’re going to watch the movie. They just need to be held accountable if that’s what it is. If it’s that bad, and they’re making those decisions when they shouldn’t be, then they need to be held accountable.”

He is right.

But even without those flags, the Ravens still looked treacherously flawed — from their departures (on the offensive line) to their additions (Henry) to where they maintained the status quo (Bateman at WR2). It’s not clear whether it amounts to a team on the rise.

But don’t tell Likely.

“This is probably the worst game we’re going to play this year,” Likely said. “So, if this is the best they’ve got, I mean, good luck in the postseason.”

And that just appeared on Mahomes’ message board.

Thursday night was Jackson’s chance to go after Mahomes — to really spark a rivalry. Not with talk. With a win. Mahomes did nothing but further confirm what was already clear: He’s better. He’s the best.

And he continues to move further and further away from the field.

Henry McKenna is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports as an AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna covered the Patriots for seven years for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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