KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 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 out of Texas would give their offense some much-needed pop.
It took Worthy five plays in a season-opening 27-20 win over Baltimore on Thursday night to prove it was a wise decision. And to show the rest of the league that they were fools for letting 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 couple of nice gains. Isiah Pacheco added a carry. The Chiefs were helped along by a personal foul penalty. And it all set up Worthy, who sprinted behind Mahomes, grabbed his flip and followed a red escort 21 yards to the end zone.
“It was crazy. We ran that in the preseason and I fumbled,” Worthy explained. “For them to have that trust in me, I told (offensive coordinator Matt) Nagy that I think this play is going to score and it happened. It was an amazing moment.”
Worthy made an even more important play at another crucial juncture later in the game.
Lamar Jackson had just hit Isaiah Likely on a broken play for a 49-yard touchdown pass that had drawn the Ravens to within 20-17 in the fourth quarter. Mahomes again answered by finding Rice for a nice gain, and then tight end Noah Gray, who earlier in the day had agreed to a contract extension. Finally, on second down at the Baltimore 35, the Super Bowl MVP spotted Worthy as he ran right past Marlon Humphrey, hitting him in stride with the touchdown strike.
“He’s so cool, calm and collected, like, all the time,” said Mahomes, who earlier in the night passed Len Dawson for the franchise record for career passing yardage. “You never even see the excitement on him, but he goes up there and makes plays.”
Worthy wound up with three touches for 68 yards and two touchdowns.
Not a bad NFL debut.
“This is everything I’ve dreamed of,” Worthy said afterward. “Like I said before, I didn’t want to go anywhere else but the Chiefs. Having this moment and it showing up the way it is, is just an amazing feeling.”
Mahomes completed 20 passes to eight different targets, and the Chiefs offense was humming despite Travis Kelce catching just three balls for 37 yards. Just imagine what it could do when Marquise Brown, one of their premier free-agent acquisitions, is back in the next couple of weeks from his shoulder injury.
“It was good to get the whole offense going and kind of see where everybody’s at,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs did a nice job of bottling up new Ravens running back Derrick Henry, who tormented him 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 on the night.
“We were able to hold on,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “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.”
Defensive backs Jaylen Watson and Josh Williams played well alongside Trent McDuffie, showing the Chiefs’ secondary should be just fine after L’Jarius Sneed was traded to Tennessee. Chamarri Conner also made a couple of nice plays at safety.
Nick Bolton, who is hoping for a long-term contract extension after the season, had a shaky performance against Baltimore. The usually assignment-sound linebacker failed to mark Justice Hill out of the backfield for what became two long completions, and Bolton also had the coverage on Likely when the tight end caught his long touchdown pass.
The Chiefs made it through unscathed. Now, the question is whether Brown can play next week against Cincinnati. He hurt his shoulder in the Chiefs’ preseason opener against Jacksonville but has so far avoided injured reserve.
28,715 — The career passing yardage total for 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.
The Chiefs go for their third straight win over the Bengals on Sept. 15.
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