The Chiefs vs Ravens game was a dramatic affair from start to finish. However, a moment in the final seconds really took the cake in terms of drama. The game almost got tied as Lamar Jackson threw a TD to Isaiah Likely, but the pass was ruled incomplete after review.
Jackson expressed his shock with the outcome and claimed that in his opinion, the ball was clearly in the end zone.
When asked about the pass during the press conference, he claimed confidently that he “thought that it was a touchdown and I still think it was a touchdown.” He explained the final play and applauded Likely for the catch. He said:
“I threw it so he can like make a play on it…I gave him the ball so he could jump a little bit but I thought he did a great job, acrobatic catch and I believe it was two feet in.”
With five seconds on the clock, the Ravens were down by 7 points and making a final play in the Chiefs’ red zone when Jackson threw a short pass toward Likely, who jumped to grab the ball while dodging the Chiefs’ linebackers.
He landed in the endzone to score a touchdown but it was later overturned by the officials and ruled an incomplete pass as his shoe was on the line.
Jackson noted that the team had prepared for the game and executed their strategy, but they were caught off guard by how the officials handled the situation during the game.
Jackson not happy with penalties and ref calls
The Ravens QB was clearly fuming at the loss, and seemingly hinted at getting unnecessarily penalized every time they were about to score:
“I believe our guys were fighting you know, unfortunately we had penalties every time we had almost an explosive every time we had an explosive we had a penalty right after that..”
In the game, the Ravens were flagged 7 times for ‘illegal formations’ and had to drop 64 yards in total whereas the Chiefs racked up 6 penalties and dropped 45 yards.
Lamar was very optimistic after the game but numbers tell a different story. Despite having greater possession and him throwing 41 passes, only 26 were completed.
There was a gap in the team’s ability to penetrate the Chiefs’ defenses and the repeated penalties were of no help.
The final overturned touchdown could have won them the game but there were a lot of holes in the overall performance of the team that will need to be filled out for them to perform well in the rest of the season.