Chiefs crush Ravens in prime time, 34-20, as Patrick Mahomes steals the show
As Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson headed off the field late Monday night, after the NFL’s so-called game of the year had turned into a running joke, Patrick Mahomes lingered in one corner of M&T Bank Stadium, waiting to explain to a national TV audience just what had gone right.
Kansas City can do what it did in prime-time — Chiefs 34, Ravens 20 — to a lot of teams. They are the defending Super Bowl champions because they have the game’s most prodigious arm and a talented defense and an innovative coaching staff. But this was supposed to be the Ravens' night, if only because their last two meetings had gone so poorly.
The Ravens have their own Most Valuable Player, their own playmaking defense, their own coaching staff to admire. And still, for the third straight year, they could not come up with an answer. This time, they looked even more lost. Mahomes threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns on 31-for-42 passing, leading a Kansas City offense (517 yards) that nearly doubled the Ravens' output (228).
Jackson, who’d joked in the offseason that he “hated” playing Mahomes, looked like he was playing another sport altogether. The NFL’s second-most accurate passer entering Week 3, he went 15-for-28 for 97 yards and a touchdown. He finished with almost as many rushing yards (83).
Tight end Mark Andrews and wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown combined for five catches on 14 targets for just 35 yards. The Ravens averaged 7.5 yards per carry but finished with 21 attempts; Jackson dropped back 32 times and was sacked four times.
The blowout ended the Ravens' 14-game regular-season winning streak and 12-game prime-time home winning streak. It also raised questions about Jackson, who’s struggled in the scenarios that he revisited Monday night. With a 10-point lead, Jackson’s 18-0. With a 10-point deficit, he’s 0-5. Against the Chiefs, Jackson’s 0-3. Against everyone else, he’s 21-1.
Kansas City controlled most of the game, taking a 10-point lead in the second quarter and a 17-point lead in the third quarter and fighting back after their lead shrunk to seven in the fourth.
The Ravens had tried to make it interesting for the 250 family members on hand — at least those who stuck around after halftime. A couple of third-quarter Chiefs mistakes helped. After Kansas City fumbled on the opening drive of the second half, just as it was about to put the Ravens away for good, a short-lived comeback began. The Ravens needed 6:43 to cover 60 yards and get a field goal.
When the Chiefs were stuffed near midfield on fourth-and-1 on the ensuing drive, there was another glimmer of hope. A 49-yard drive, capped by a 5-yard touchdown catch by tight end Nick Boyle, cut the deficit, improbably, to 27-20 early in the fourth quarter.
Order was quickly restored. The Chiefs didn’t just restore their 14-point margin their next time with the ball. They made the 75-yard drive as painful as possible: 13 plays, 75 yards, almost seven minutes worked off the clock. Their final insult was a 2-yard touchdown pass to left tackle and unlikely eligible receiver Eric Fisher.
The Ravens entered the game having allowed 21 or fewer points in 13 straight games, the NFL’s longest active streak. The Chiefs blew past that before halftime was even over, like it was a speed bump.
Kansas City’s offense had struggled at times in wins over the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers. Maybe the Chiefs were pulling punches; come Monday night, the Ravens played like they didn’t know what was hitting them on drive after drive.
Five Chiefs receivers had over 60 yards: tight end Travis Kelce (six catches for 87 yards), wide receiver Mecole Hardman (four catches for 81 yards), wide receiver Tyreek Hill (five catches for 77 yards), running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (five catches for 70 yards) and wide receiver Sammy Watkins (seven catches for 62 yards).
Kansas City punted just once on its six first-half drives. With Mahomes in control from the game’s first snap, every scoring drive felt inevitable. First he broke from the pocket and scrambled in, untouched, from 3 yards out. Then he underhanded a pass to fullback Anthony Sherman, as if he were tossing him a bottle of water, and Sherman scored easily from 5 yards. Then he feathered a 20-yard pass to Hill in the back of the end zone, just out of reach of All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters. Then he delivered a 49-yard dagger to Hardman, who seemed to float by the Ravens' secondary.
The Ravens trailed 27-10 at that point, their one touchdown coming on a 93-yard kickoff return by Devin Duvernay. Not even a prevent defense could get their offense anywhere. On their first two-minute drill, Chiefs defensive tackle strip-sacked Jackson. Kansas City was unlucky to come away with nothing after a missed field-goal attempt by kicker Harrison Butker.
When the Ravens got the ball back with five seconds remaining and 68 yards to go, the Chiefs dared them to throw short, so Jackson did. He missed badly on a gimme look to Duvernay. Andrews couldn’t bring in the next as time expired.
The Chiefs looked like they’d come prepared for the NFL’s game of the year. The Ravens looked like they needed a break.
This story will be updated.
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