Defending champion Kansas City edged Baltimore 27-20 in Thursday’s 105th US National Football League (NFL) season-opener after a video review denied the Ravens a touchdown on the game’s final play.
Two-time NFL Most Valuable Players Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Lamar Jackson of Baltimore started at quarterback in a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship game and produced a spectacular start to the campaign.
Baltimore’s Justin Tucker kicked a 32-yard field goal with 4:54 remaining to lift the Ravens within 27-20 and later Mahomes made a great catch of his own deflected pass to prevent an interception just before the two-minute warning, allowing a Chiefs punt that left the Ravens 87 yards away from a tying touchdown.
Photo: AFP
Jackson threw a 38-yard pass to Rashod Bateman to put Baltimore at the Chiefs’ 10-yard line in the dying seconds, but missed on two passes to open receivers in the end zone.
On the final play, Baltimore’s Isaiah Likely caught a Jackson pass in the back of the end zone but his toe came down on the out of bounds line and what referees called a touchdown on the field was overruled on video review, giving the Chiefs a dramatic triumph.
Mahomes is trying to lead the Chiefs to an unprecedented Super Bowl “three-peat” and fourth title in six seasons while Jackson hopes to guide the Ravens to their first Super Bowl title since the 2012 campaign.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Mahomes said.
“It’s a game of inches. That’s what they say. That’s a great football team and to come out here and get a win, it’s a great start to the season,” he added.
“Our guys responded well,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on but that’s a great start.”
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
The Taoyuan Pauian Pilots last night lost their East Asia Super League (EASL) championship game against Japan’s Hiroshima Dragonflies 72-68. They on Friday secured Taiwan’s first-ever spot in an EASL final with a 71-64 comeback victory over Japan’s Ryukyu Golden Kings. In what the EASL official Web site described as an “upset,” Pilots forward Lu Chun-hsiang on Friday asserted his stardom in Macau by scoring a game-high 24 points, with four players in both teams reaching double figures. The win was also the first time a Taiwanese franchise has defeated a Japanese team in the EASL Final Four. “I was moved
RSS