It was a thin-margin loss for the Baltimore Ravens, thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Red Army won 27-20 against the away team, but what caught more attention was Isaiah Likely’s toe, who was out of bounds in the end zone while receiving the pass from the quarterback.

As it was a so-close moment for the Ravens, they missed the opportunity to tie with the home team. Disappointed with that controversial call, Ravens coach, John Harbaugh, in a post-game presser, expressed, “I don’t know what it looked like on the replays. So I can’t say, you couldn’t tell it on the big screen. You guys probably had a better viewpoint of it.”

Continuing with his perspective, Harbaugh praised Likely and Lamar Jackson as well as his OL, by saying, “I think Isaiah played a great football game, a great game. I mean he made so many plays, especially on a stretch, play after play. Put Lamar obviously in the same category. All those guys, those guys were making plays, fighting the offensive line. Did a heck of a job out there.” Besides him, Ravens’ players too shared their perspectives on this call.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson couldn’t believe what happened as he exclaimed, “I thought it was a touchdown. Still think it’s a touchdown.” Whereas, on the other hand, Isiah Likely himself too commented on the call, staying optimistic: “At this point you just gotta live with the call. I mean you gotta look on, obviously watch the film so you we can do better.” There’s no doubt that this call, if not made, would have resulted in a tie, but destiny had some other plans. And Roquan Smith knows it well too!

The Ravens linebacker, Roquan Smith, couldn’t believe what happened, but ultimately accepted the fate by saying, “Yeah, absolutely I thought it was a touchdown and that’s what they called on the field. I didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn it. I think that’s something that the refs have to deal with whenever the time comes. That’s out of my control.”

In the game, with time running out, Jackson threw a pass to Isaiah Likely, aiming for a touchdown. Likely made the catch, but his foot was just barely out of bounds in the end zone. That tiny margin was enough to hand the win to the Chiefs. But the question is, was a toe the only reason for their loss?

What went wrong with the Ravens in the 2024 season opener?

The Ravens started their new season much like they ended the last with a heartbreaking loss to the Chiefs. There’s no doubt that in this rematch of the AFC Game, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens fought hard but came up short, dropping their record to 1-5 against Patrick Mahomes. But where did all the things start to go wrong?

In the final moments of the game, Jackson led a promising drive down to Kansas City’s 10-yard line. He had three chances to score, but he narrowly missed wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone. So, in this way, one chance was gone for the Ravens! Then, second was when it seemed Jackson had thrown a touchdown to Isaiah Likely, that TD didn’t count. Likely’s foot barely touched the end line, nullifying the score as the game ended, and they lost.

Despite Jackson’s impressive individual performance, with 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, the Ravens couldn’t keep pace with Mahomes’ big plays. As their third mistake, the most frustrating aspect of Jackson’s night was his struggles inside the 20-yard line. He missed key throws, including one to a wide-open Justice Hill, and also fumbled in the second quarter, giving the Chiefs an opportunity for a field goal.

Besides that, some major absences were tight end Mark Andrews, who is Jackson’s favorite target, was taken out of the game by the Chiefs’ defense. He finished the game with just two catches. In addition to that, a few injuries too, resulted in the scores, which was unexpected.

Nevertheless, Ravens have another chance to come back to victory and glory, as they will be facing off against the Raiders on Sunday, September 15.