KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown, and the Kansas City defense kept Lamar Jackson and the Ravens out of the end zone on three consecutive plays in the closing seconds, allowing the Chiefs to begin their pursuit of a third straight Super Bowl title with a 27-20 victory over Baltimore on Thursday night.

The game ended with a video review after Jackson appeared to connect with Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone with no time remaining for a touchdown. The video clearly showed Likely’s toe landing on the endline, though, and the call was overturned, sending the Chiefs streaming off the bench in celebration.

 

 

 

Xavier Worthy had touchdowns rushing and receiving, and Isiah Pacheco also had a TD run for the Chiefs, helping them not only win a rematch of last season’s AFC title game but beat the Ravens for the fifth time in their last six meetings.

 

That lopsided ledger has been especially frustrating for Jackson, who has called Kansas City their Ravens’ “kryptonite.” He was sublime on Thursday night, throwing for 273 yards and a touchdown while adding 122 yards on the ground, but a video review of the final play of the game left him to rue another missed chance to finally upstage Mahomes and Co.

 

Jackson gave Baltimore a chance, too, after getting the ball back at his own 13-yard line with 1:50 left and no timeouts.

He completed a couple throws to Likely, who finished with 111 yards receiving and a score, and scrambled on third-and-2 for a first down. Two plays later, Jackson zipped a pass 38 yards to Rashod Bateman down the sideline that moved the Ravens to the Kansas City 10 with just 19 seconds to go — plenty of time for a few shots at the end zone.

Jackson’s first pass was a throwaway, but his second missed wide-open Zay Flowers in the back of the end zone. Then came the last throw, after Jackson had scrambled for what seemed like an eternity. Ravens coach John Harbaugh signaled that his team would try for a winning 2-point conversion, but it didn’t get that chance after the video review.

The wild ending came after the start was delayed about 20 minutes by a storm that brought heavy rain and lightning.

The Ravens opened with an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended when Derrick Henry, who tormented the Chiefs in six previous meetings while he was with Tennessee, plunged into the end zone from 5 yards out for the early lead.

But the high-octane Chiefs, trying to avoid losing their opener in back-to-back years, needed just two minutes to produce an answer. Mahomes twice connected with Rashee Rice, who has so far avoided any NFL suspension for his role in a street-racing crash in Dallas, before Worthy showed why the Chiefs made him their first-round pick with a 21-yard touchdown run.

After those two drives, the first half was mostly marked by Week 1 blunders.