Despite coming up short in AFC title game rematch, the team is excited about their trajectory and expect to see the two-time defending champs again down the road.
There are no such things as moral victories in sports, especially in professional football where rematches—outside of divisional games—are not guaranteed.
Even though the Baltimore Ravens came up a literal inch shy of pulling off a complete comeback in a dramatic 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs to open the 2024 season, they were far from discouraged in the immediate aftermath.
“The whole game gives me encouragement, because I believe our guys were fighting,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “Unfortunately, every time we had an explosive [play], we had a penalty right after that, so it’s hard to get in the groove. Our offense battled, and we battled through the third and fourth quarter. Unfortunately, these ugly games, we have to overcome them, and I feel like we did a great job with that. [The game was] just coming down in the red zone or 10-yard line to the last play.”
Coming off his second league MVP-winning campaign, the three-time Pro Bowler and two-time First Team All-Pro put himself in the early running for a third with how well he played against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. After he generated 389 of the Ravens’ 452 yards of total offense by throwing for 267 passing yards and rushing for another 122, he vehemently refuted the narrative he first sparked about the Chiefs being his “kryptonite.”
“I believe everyone in our locker room hates losing, point blank period – coaches, trainers, equipment guys, cafeteria women and men, and definitely the players,” Jackson said. “We’re out there putting it on the line, blood, sweat and tears. And for us to lose to those guys, and the way we lost, even though I don’t want to lose, but I can’t be mad at my guys because we battled.”
The Ravens’ second-best player on the field in the season opener was third-year tight end Isaiah Likely, who led the team with nine receptions on 12 targets for a game and a career-high 111 receiving yards and a touchdown. As impressive as the offense played for stretches, outgaining the Chiefs by nearly 100 yards—452-353—he believes they are capable of playing at a much higher level and is confident they would prove as much if the two teams met again.
“I’d say this is probably the worst game we’re going to play all year, so if this is the best that they’ve got, good luck in the postseason,” Likely said.
The Ravens’ defense also wasn’t satisfied with its performance, specifically with some of the miscommunication issues that led to them allowing some big plays in pivotal moments. The most notable was the blown coverage that put the Chiefs back up by two scores in the fourth quarter.
“There was a lot of mistakes out there and that’s not what we pride ourselves on.” pic.twitter.com/XhUtLxcwHz
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 6, 2024
As the unquestioned leader and defensive signal disseminator, two-time First Team All-Pro inside linebacker Roquan Smith took responsibility for his unit’s multiple miscues. In addition to vowing that those mistakes would get addressed, he is also confident that the Ravens and Chiefs will square off again in the postseason.
“They won the game, but we’ll definitely see them again,” Smith said.
Even Kansas City’s brightest star players couldn’t help but tip their hat to the Ravens and what they nearly pulled off. Three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes also thinks the two teams could meet again in the postseason.
“It’s a great football team and I’m sure we’ll see them again at some point in the playoffs,” Mahomes said.
Chiefs’ five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Chris Jones was a disruptive force for much of the game. He also went out of his way to praise the Ravens, especially for how they swiftly marched down the field in the final minutes and nearly spoiled his team’s banner celebration night.
“First off, heck of a job by them to even get it in the red zone with like 40 seconds left to go,” Jones said. “There was a lot of effort and a lot of grit that was played in the last few plays by our defense. We were able to hold on. We were inches away from going into overtime in the first game of the year. We knew it was going to be a battle. It was an exciting game that came down to literally the end. That’s a playoff caliber team right there with an MVP quarterback. We look forward to seeing them later on down the road.”