Lamar Jackson and the Ravens fans would have had flashbacks of the AFC Championship game after suffering another agonizing defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs. In an electric game on Thursday night, the Chiefs laid down an early marker for the new season, but the Ravens had come close to silencing the Arrowhead Stadium and for a brief moment, they indeed did.

Jackson missed wide-open Zay Flowers but then found TE Isaiah Likely, leading to a last-second touchdown. Jackson and the Baltimore faithful thought they had forced overtime and could possibly go for the win. But an immediate review showed that Likely’s toe was out of bounds and the call was overturned. But to the QB things looked a little different and Patrick Mahomes had a witty response for him.

“I thought it was a touchdown. Still think it’s a touchdown,” Jackson said. Despite Jackson’s claims, the contrast between the white paint and the TE’s black cleats was clear like day and night. This meant the Ravens suffered a 20-27 defeat, a fifth for Jackson against the Chiefs. Hence, his frustration is understandable.

However, in the post-match interview, Mahomes gave Likely a cheeky piece of advice and dismissed Jackson’s claims. “Just got to wear white cleats next time. That’s my advice for him,” the Chiefs QB said. The overturned call was a lucky break for the Chiefs who had to rely on Mahomes for a fantastic defensive play.

With 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mahomes attempt to throw a short ball to wide receiver Rashee Rice was caught and tipped into the air by Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson. The Ravens’ defense was in a great position to score a Pick-6, but Mahomes managed to outjump everyone and regain possession. This allowed the Chiefs to punt the ball and avoid a tie.

On the offensive side, Mahomes completed 20 of 28 passes for 291 yards surpassing Len Dawson as the Chiefs’ all-time leading passer and scoring one TD. Other than three-time Super Bowl winner, rookie receiver Xavier Worthy had a good debut game scoring a touchdown on a 21-yard run and catching a 35-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Rashee Rice also looked impressive, with the WR catching seven passes for 103 yards, having 72 of those yards after the catch, the second most in a game in his career. Meanwhile, for Jackson, this defeat doesn’t do him favors when it comes to comparisons with Mahomes.

The Ravens QB is 1-5 down against Mahomes, which means the record is tied for the fourth most lopsided rivalry between MVP award-winning quarterbacks who’ve played each other at least five times. Moreover, other than the Chiefs star no quarterback has beaten Jackson more than two times. While there is great hype around their rivalry, at the current rate, it is looking like an uneven matchup. Things could have been different for the Ravens and Jackson but for the penultimate play before the TD was ruled out.

Jackson had Zay Flowers wide open across the end zone but threw the ball behind him. These fine margins are what currently separate him and Mahomes, and unless the Flordia native improves his passing in clutch situations, the Chiefs SB winning QB will remain ahead in the conversation.

Likely also shared his take on the call toward the end. “At this point, you just have to live with the call. That’s on me. I just have to get both feet in. I harp on myself to catch everything and make sure everybody puts us in the best possibility, so I take responsibility. Next time, I’m going to get my feet down.” Despite the heartbreaking defeat, he remains defiant.

He believes that the Kansas City Chiefs will have to do a lot better if they want to defeat the Ravens in the post-season. “I say this is probably the worst game we’re going to play all year. So, if this is the best that they got, good luck in the post-season,” Likely said in the post-game presser.

Despite all the Baltimore Ravens’ efforts collapsing in the end, the TE has had a pretty stellar game. He came out with 9 receptions over 111 yards and even scored a touchdown after Jackson threw a 49-yard pass to the tight end. This happened at the beginning of the last quarter, but the Ravens still struggled to keep up in the last minutes of the game.

However, despite all of this, John Harbaugh, the Ravens HC is optimistic about the team’s future.

Harbaugh is proud of the way his team handled the Super Bowl champions

The Ravens HC took to the podium and pointed out the obvious. Within the last few seconds of the game, Jackson had two opportunities to tie the game and possibly go for a two-point conversion. However, Jackson and Zay Flowers had some miscommunication and the quarterback’s pass was incomplete as it went out of bounds.

The next time he tried it, Jackson was in a bit of a crunch as there only remained 5 seconds in the game. The Ravens ran an identical play, but this time the tight end caught the ball, only to know that he was out of bounds. Here’s what Harbaugh had to say about the debacle.

“I’m proud of the way our guys played, the way we fought and the way we competed,” John Harbaugh said. “It looked like we had an opportunity there to tie the game up and try to win it with a two-point conversion. It didn’t happen at the end but proud of the way the guys fought, only going to get better from here on out and I’m looking forward to that.”

While there have been inconsistencies in both teams’ offense, the defense on both sides did a phenomenal job of stopping the other team. Now the Baltimore Ravens will go against the Las Vegas Raiders next while the Chiefs prepare to gear up against Joe Burrow’s Bengals really soon.