Xavier Worthy's Electrifying NFL Debut! Chiefs vs. Ravens Highlights

worthy debut the 2024 NFL kickoff game was delayed 20 minutes amid a thunderstorm but the fans who were forced to wait were instead rewarded with a little lightning speed that is Thursday night was just a taste of what we have expected from Xavier worthy since the moment the chief swung a trade up to land him in the draft Worthy's first NFL touch was a sidewinding brilliant 21 yd touchdown run on an Ender round to tie the game his second was a 12yd Crosser on both plays Worthy's breathtaking speed was tangible Patrick Mahomes only targeted worthy once more in the first half under thrwing him on a pass in the end zone and credit the rookie for turning into a Defender and knocking the wouldbe interception out of ravens defensive back ardarius Washington's hands the Chiefs finally got back to worthy in the fourth quarter and he rewarded them with a 35 yd TD catch against what looked like a busted Ravens coverage that was it three touches 68 yards two touchdowns but with the Ravens keying in on Travis Kelce and rashy rice where made the most of his limited touches in a terrific NFL debut one toe spoils great night from Lamar likely when Mark Andrews went down last season with a leg injury it provided Isaiah likely an opportunity to show the Ravens what he can do in a more featured role likely was good last season but when the Chiefs clamped down on Z flowers in the second half holding him to one catch for minus two yards likely looked like Lamar Jackson's best weapon while Andrews looked like an afterthought Jackson gutted the chiefs with his legs 122 yards and his arm especially to likely in the second half likely finished with career highs in catches nine and receiving yards 111 including a 49 yd catch and run on a scramble drill play and likely was almost the unlikely opening night hero appearing to haul in what could have been a touchdown catch John Harbaugh was prepared to go for two that lifted the Ravens to a comeback win the problem likely's toe was a sliver out of bounds on what ended up being the final play of a thrilling first game it was a massive showing from likele who also delivered a huge block on the Chiefs George carapus clearing the way for a Jackson scramble the Ravens came up just short in the opener and Jackson did miss a wideopen Flowers In The End Zone a play earlier but both tight end and quarterback carried their team most of the game McDuffy passed a big test but the chief's defense has other issues there was a big concern when the Chiefs moved on from leria Sneed that it might have a trickle down effect on the chief's secondary it wasn't so much about whether Trent McDuffy could handle the CB1 role although it did mean tougher assignments and more snaps outside on Thursday McDuffy struggled a little early in his matchup with Z flowers and actually went into the blue medical tent at one point in the first half but McDuffy came back out to make a great fourth down tackle on flowers shy of the line to gain and bottled him up for most of the second half but the rest of the defense had its share of issues mostly with containing Lamar Jackson and Isaiah likely Jackson made several Defenders look silly Nick Bolton more than once in space and even powered through a few tackle attempts for extra yards the Chiefs also couldn't pressure Jackson a or get him down allowing him to create on the Fly likely caught passes against seven different Chiefs Defenders per nextg stats nearly hauling in the gamewinner the Chiefs had two huge Red Zone breakdowns in the final minute but came away with the win the defense had a strip sack and two stops on downs but it was not the cleanest performance by any means Henry quiet in Ravens debut on the Ravens gutsy opening drive overcoming three penalties and converting three third Downs Derrik Henry capped it with a plunging 5yd touchdown run putting the Ravens up 7 to0 on the Champs it was Henry's fifth carry of the drive and a strong start for the Ravens big free agent acquisition Henry then touched the ball only three more times the entire first half finishing the game with 13 rushes for 46 yards and no catches on two Targets Henry averaged 16 a half carries per game last season with the Titans and he had six games with 13 or fewer so this wasn't some shockingly low usage by recent Henry standards plus when the Ravens went down two scores in the second half Henry came off the field in favor of Justice Hill and the ball was mostly in Lamar Jackson's hands so clearly there was a game Flow effect that worked against Henry in his debut he did convert a huge fourth and one run with 6 minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the game his final touch that helped the Ravens stay in it down 10 points Hill had one carry and flowers had two the rest of the rushing attempts went to Jackson and Henry you can't read too much into this usage although it does highlight Henry's limitations when the Ravens are down and or going Tempo Chief's offense still dangerous despite hiccups the chiefs were without wide receiver mares Brown as expected and they were starting a rookie left tackle in Kingsley swam even with some flubs expected if we were to measure Thursday's offensive showing by 2023 standards it would rate closer to the top than to the bottom Patrick Mahomes had fairly modest passing numbers 291 yards but there were some close misses that could have beefed those up quite a bit it wasn't reminiscent of last year's struggles but there were a few hicups on passes that hit the receivers hands including two by the running backs Travis Kelce had a drop so did Juju Smith Shuster in his first game back even momes threw a goofy interception and nearly was picked a second time saving his own bacon in the final minutes by catching his own pass swam maaya allowed a sack and had a holding penalty that wiped out a 9-y run in the red zone it wasn't the crispest operation we've seen from this group but Rashi rice was terrific Isaiah Pacho ground down on the Ravens and Mahomes has a shiny new toy and Xavier worthy there's work to be done here too but the Champs were facing one of their toughest tests in week one they're still the champs for a reason next gen stat of the game on his first NFL career touch Xavier worthy scored on a 21 yard end round run gaining plus 14 rushing yards overe expected on the Play Worthy who reached a top speed of 24.4 one mph during his record setting 4.21 second 40 yard dash at the 2024 NFL scouting combine hit a peak velocity of 18.45 milph on his touchdown run NFL research on his 23-yard completion to Travis kelse in the second quarter of Thursday's game Patrick Mahomes surpassed Len Dawson 2857 yard as the chief's all-time leader in passing yards Dawson reached his total in 183 games with the Chiefs Thursday was mahomes's 97th regular season game with the franchise