We waited over 200 days since the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl and we all had to wait 25 more minutes as a few lightning strikes in the Kansas City area delayed the kickoff last night. Once the delay was over the Chiefs and Ravens did not disappoint, at least for the first quarter.
The Baltimore Ravens lead by Lamar Jackson marched down the field on their first possession going 75-yards in fifteen plays over nearly 7 minutes which was capped off by a Derrick Henry TD to take a 7-0 lead.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs wasted no time responding with a 52-yard seven play TD drive in just a little over two minutes. Xavier Worthy the rookie scored untouched on a 21-yard end-a-round for his first ever TD to tie the game 7-7.
At this point it looked like the Ravens and Chiefs were destined for a shootout. However, the defenses would adjust and for the rest of the 1st half we only saw FG’s.
The Chiefs behind two Butker FG’s took a 13-10 lead into the half thanks to Justin Tucker missing his first FG of the season from 53 yards.
The Chiefs started the 2nd half with a 10 play 77-yard drive that ended with a Pacheco TD. Mahomes and his WR weapons Rice and Watson hooked up for two plays over 25-yards in route to what was a very easy drive to give the Chiefs a 20-10 lead.
Baltimore and Lamar Jackson though were not just going to throw the towel in, although if you were watching the game you really had no confidence as the 3rd quarter came to a close that the Ravens were going to be in a position to win.
Yet, its games like these in which always begs the question are the NFL games scripted. I mean Larmar Jackson hit Likely for a 49-yard TD just as the final quarter started to bring the game to 20-17. Don’t let the box score tell you differently though, it was really a 10-yard pass with 39 yards ran after the catch.
I do not know how the Kansas City Chiefs defense allowed him to not only gain a couple yards after he caught that pass let alone go down the sideline and score. Nevertheless, the Chiefs offense was dialed in all day and responded just four minutes later with Mahomes hitting Xavier Worthy for his second TD of the game.
With the Chiefs up 27-17 the Ravens passed up on a FG on a fourth down on there next drive that would have been around 50 yards and ended up getting down to the 10 yard line. The drive would stall there and needing a FG anyway down ten points they then elected to take a chip shot.
If I was asking questions after this game at the press conference the first one that I would have asked would have been – “Do you wish you would have taken the FG sooner to have more time left on the clock?”
I will never understand why coaches feel they always need to get the TD before the FG. I think with 6 minutes left in the game and needing two scores you would want to take the points as soon as possible.
The Chiefs had a chance to ice this one by gaining a first down but some penalties made that more difficult and with their defense playing well for the most part they decided not to take any major chances and ended up giving the Ravens the ball back with just 1:50 left in the game.
Jackson 87-yards away from a TD orchestrated a wonderful final drive using his sideline outlets often and with expertise. The problem that the Ravens had was they had used two of their three timeouts on defense so they could not afford to use the middle of the field.
With just :43 seconds remaining Jackson hit Bateman for a 38-yard pass all the way down to the Ravens 10-yard line. With no timeouts at this point they had to run up and get the play off and they did so with an incomplete pass giving them just :10 seconds left.
With enough time for two plays into the endzone the entertainment value had skyrocketed and you just had this feeling that if the Ravens scored they would most likely go for two and try and get out of dodge with a win.
Honestly every single person today is going to talk about the last play of the game. But, the Ravens lost this game on the second to last play. Lamar Jackson had Zay Flowers wide open in the end zone and missed him by a mile. If anyone in the world wants to argue that Lamar Jackson is a great passer and an elite QB in the NFL this is the tape you show them to debunk the argument.
So, :05 second left and essentially one more play we were able to see an array of emotions happen. First, Lamar Jackson was under heavy pressure and somehow slipped out of it as the clock hit :00. Second, knowing that this was his last throw he found Likely in the back of the end zone but the throw was a little high. Miraculously, Likely went up and grabbed the ball and in real time appeared to us all watching and the referee who was literally standing on top of the play also deemed it a TD.
There was jubilation for about 3 seconds and then NBC showed the replay and it was clear as day, Likely had stepped on the backend of the end zone line with his toe and this was going to be reversed. A few minutes later that information was confirmed by the head referee and that was the ballgame. Chiefs 27 -20.
I will tell you one thing. What a way to kickoff the 2024 NFL Season. This game had it all and got us excited for 271 more games to watch over the next 6 months.
Day #36 of Sports Betting
Today’s Starting Bankroll: $1,832.52
Bet Size: $18.32
The NFL Season began and that was enough to make me happy despite going 0-3 for the second straight day. The Ravens +3 was an absolute killer and the wrong way I wanted to start the NFL season.
$200 ➡️ $200K Challenge Bet: Jeremy Pena Over 1.5 HRR
- Despite the Astros only having 4 hits in the game, Pena had two of them going 2-4 and getting me to Level 1.3 again. I would love to get past this point!
Royce Lewis Over 1.5 HRR
- The Twins won 4-3 over the Rays with no help from Lewis as he went 0-4.
- Well this had to be the bad beat of the night. With the Ravens essentially going to go for 2 at the end of the game this bet wins no matter what that outcome was. However, as always VAR killed those hopes and this bet.
Isiah Pacheco Over 60 Rushing Yards
- Pacheco struggled against the run defense of the Ravens. He had 15 carries for only 45 yards averaging 3 YPC. He did find the end zone but it was only from about 2 yards out and he barely even got there.
Parlay of the Day: 2+ RBI’s
- Yainer Diaz: 0-3, 0 RBI’s
- Ryan Jeffers: 2-4, 0 RBI’s
- Luke Raley: 3-5, 2 RBI’s
Day #36 Profit/Loss: – $54.44
What I Learned:
Kansas City Chiefs Running Backs Are Just For Show: I think we can all agree that taking a KC running back in fantasy or betting his rushing yards on the over should be deeply frowned upon. This offense is never going to run the ball with Mahomes. I feel like a idiot for not seeing this before today but what may be common knowledge to many seems like it is a hidden truth that most of us just do not want to believe. That is the last time I take Pacheco on any type of rushing prop all season.
Day #37 Best Bets
dr
#1) NFL: Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles Over 49.5 (-110)
#2) NFL: Josh Jacobs Over Anytime TD Scorer (+100)
#3) NFL: Christian Watson 40+ Receiving Yards (-105)
Parlay of the Day: 2+ RBI Milestone (+16400)
- Giancarlo Stanton
- Anthony Santander
- Masataka Yoshida
