KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs selected Xavier Worthy in the first round of the NFL draft in April with the expectation that the speedy wide receiver from Texas would provide their offense with much-needed power.

It took Worthy five plays in a 27-20 season-opener against Baltimore on Thursday night to prove it was a wise decision — and to show the rest of the league how foolish it was to let him land with the Chiefs.

On their first possession, trying to match the Ravens’ opening touchdown, Patrick Mahomes found second-year pro Rashee Rice for a pair of nice gains. Isiah Pacheco added a carry. The Chiefs were helped by a personal foul penalty. And it all set up Worthy, who sprinted behind Mahomes, got his flip and followed a red escort 21 yards to the end zone.

“It was crazy. We did that in preseason and I fumbled,” Worthy explained. “To give them that confidence in me, I told (offensive coordinator Matt) Nagy I think this play is going to score and it happened. It was a great moment.”

Worthy made an even more important play at another crucial moment later in the game.

Lamar Jackson had just hit Isaiah Likely on a broken play for a 49-yard touchdown pass that would have put the Ravens up 20-17 in the fourth quarter. Mahomes answered again by finding Rice for a nice gain, then tight end Noah Gray, who had agreed to a contract extension earlier in the day. Finally, on second down at the Baltimore 35, the Super Bowl MVP spotted Worthy as he ran past Marlon Humphrey and caught him in his stride for the touchdown strike.

“He’s so cool, calm and collected, all the time,” said Mahomes, who earlier in the evening passed Len Dawson for the franchise record for career passing yardage. “You never see the excitement with him, but he goes out there and makes plays.”

Worthy finished with three touches for 68 yards and two touchdowns.

Not a bad NFL debut.

“This is everything I ever dreamed of,” Worthy said afterward. “Like I said before, I didn’t want to go anywhere else but the Chiefs. To have this moment and show it for what it is, it’s just an amazing feeling.”

What works

Mahomes completed 20 passes to eight different targets and the Chiefs offense was firing on all cylinders despite Travis Kelce catching just three passes for 37 yards. Just imagine what could happen if Marquise Brown, one of their top free-agent acquisitions, returns from his shoulder injury in the coming weeks.

“It was good to get the whole offense going and see where everybody is,” Mahomes said.

What needs help?

The Chiefs did a good job of containing new Ravens running back Derrick Henry, who tormented them during his time with the Titans; he had just 46 yards rushing. But they failed to contain Jackson on both scrambles and designed runs, and the two-time and reigning league MVP made them pay with 122 yards rushing that night.

“We were able to hang in there,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “We almost got away from going to overtime in the first game of the year. We knew it was going to be a battle. It was a tight game that literally came down to the end.”

Stock up

Defensive backs Jaylen Watson and Josh Williams played well alongside Trent McDuffie, showing that the Chiefs’ secondary should be in good shape after trading L’Jarius Sneed to Tennessee. Chamarri Conner also made some nice plays at safety.

Stock down

Nick Bolton, who is hoping for a long-term contract extension after the season, had a shaky performance against Baltimore. The normally high-performing linebacker failed to mark Justice Hill out of the backfield for what became two long completions, and Bolton also had coverage on Likely when the tight end caught his long touchdown pass.

Injuries

The Chiefs came through unscathed. Now the question is whether Brown will be able to play next week against Cincinnati. He injured his shoulder in the Chiefs’ season opener against Jacksonville, but has thus far avoided the injury list.

Key figures

28,715 — Career total yards of Mahomes, who had 291 yards with a touchdown and an interception against the Ravens. That broke the Chiefs record of 28,507 yards set by Dawson from 1962-75.

Next steps

The Chiefs record their third straight victory over the Bengals on September 15.

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