• WHERE: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium | Kansas City, Missouri.
• WHEN: 8:20 p.m. ET | NBC, Telemundo, Universo, NFL+

Now we are back where we started last season: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Kansas City Chiefs begin their Super Bowl title defense — and their quest for an unprecedented third consecutive Lombardi Trophy — on Thursday night by hosting the Baltimore Ravens, a five-star matchup that will serve as the 2024 NFL Kickoff Game.

Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson each took over as starting quarterback for their respective teams in 2018. Since then, Kansas City and Baltimore have met five times. Mahomes and the Chiefs have won four of those meetings, including last year’s AFC Championship Game in Baltimore. This was a dicey game even before kickoff, when Mahomes and Travis Kelce tossed Justin Tucker’s helmet and kicking tee aside during pregame warmups. The Chiefs sacked Jackson four times and turned him over twice, with Mahomes and the offense doing just enough to advance to the Super Bowl with a 17-10 victory.

Jackson, last season’s MVP, will work behind a rebuilt offensive line this season, but Baltimore also has a new weapon in running back Derrick Henry. The former Titans running back has put together some monster games against the Chiefs in the past and will likely play a major role in the Ravens’ offense this season.

Here are four things to watch for when the Ravens visit the Chiefs on Thursday night to open the 2024 season:

1. Lamar defense against Chiefs. Jackson has had a rough time against the Chiefs in his career overall. The Ravens are 1-4 with Jackson as the starter against KC, including last year’s playoff loss. Jackson has actually been effective as a runner against the Chiefs, but it’s telling that he’s averaged more yards per run (6.49) than per pass attempt (6.47) against them. The fact that Jackson wasn’t used as a designed runner the last time the teams met remains a big mystery — and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a lot more of that on Thursday night. The Chiefs have frequently operated from a single-high position defensively in playoff games, but Jackson has struggled to capitalize on it. According to Next Gen Stats, Jackson was just 5 of 15 single-high passes against the Chiefs after averaging 8.8 yards per attempt last regular season, the second-highest average in the league. In all other defensive actions in this game, Jackson averaged 9.0 yards against them. This offseason, the Chiefs traded cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who had a tough coverage game against the Ravens but forced a crucial fumble from Zay Flowers near the goal line. Trent McDuffie has now been pushed into the CB1 slot; who starts opposite him remains a question, with Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams being the best options. It will be interesting to see if defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo changes his coverage approach this time around. Flowers, Nelson Agholor and Rashod Bateman are Jackson’s top targets outside, along with the return of tight end Mark Andrews, who was limited in the AFC title game, to play with the up-and-coming Isaiah probably.
2. Mahomes hopes to continue his success against the Ravens. Mahomes has had more success against the Ravens in his career, completing 72.8% of his passes and averaging 344 passing yards with a 13-2 TD-INT ratio in those five games. The Ravens forced Mahomes into a number of short passes in January, but he kept it up, completing 30 of his 39 attempts, not losing the ball and only taking two sacks, both in the fourth quarter when the Chiefs were up by two points. That defensive plan was coordinated by Mike Macdonald, who took the Seahawks head coaching job. How McDonald’s successor, 32-year-old Zach Orr, is trying to slow Mahomes down is unclear, but Orr seems to be earning the trust of his defenders. The Ravens led the NFL with 60 sacks last season, and while they’ve lost some of that output, this is a pretty strong pass-rush group. The hope is that younger edge players like Odafe Oweh (five sacks last season) can improve their game. Baltimore also has a strong, talented secondary again, led by the brilliant Kyle Hamilton, who can play almost anywhere and handle almost any coverage assignment. The Chiefs offense wasn’t as explosive as usual last season, with too many turnovers, stalled drives and dropped passes – especially down the field. This is a tough early test and benchmark for this unit, but you can be sure that it will look to generate more big passing plays starting with this game.
3. Debut at King Henry’s Ravens. Henry, the NFL’s best active runner, is starting over in Baltimore, where he signed this offseason after eight brilliant seasons in Tennessee. His 68.6 yards per game rushing average last season was Henry’s lowest since 2018, when he shared the Titans’ running duties. At 30 years old and with more than 2,000 career carries, could Henry be slowing down? After all, he had seven games with 43 or fewer rushing yards in 2023. But he also averaged 5.7 yards per carry in the final three games of last season, wrapping them up in style with a 153-yard outing against the Jaguars in Week 18. Henry also had success against the Chiefs, amassing 672 rushing yards and eight TDs in six career matchups, including the postseason. He even threw three of his five touchdown passes against the Chiefs and hasn’t lost a single fumble against them in 128 career touchdowns. The Ravens have some concerns on the offensive line with two starters in their first year, but there’s hope that Henry and Jackson can be a dangerous pair on the ground that can make up for any blocking deficiencies. This can also help the Ravens open up the play-action game where Jackson typically thrives — and an element the Chiefs struggled to stop a year ago. According to NGS, Jackson led all qualified QBs in total EPA (+67.4) and success rate (63.3%) on play-action dropbacks in 2023, averaging 10.6 yards per attempt on play action compared to 7.1 on dropbacks without play action. In the AFC Championship Game, Jackson averaged 11.2 yards per attempt on play action versus 5.7 YPA without play action. One of the few weaknesses the Chiefs had on defense last year was battling play action, but they ranked 31st in defensive success rate.
4. Big tests for two Chiefs rookies. It’s funny that the Chiefs needed to improve their offense this offseason, but their first two draft picks seemed designed to do just that. They won the Super Bowl despite lacking the downfield strength of previous Mahomes-led passing games. The biggest culprits were a number of receivers who failed to consistently separate and/or catch deep passes thrown their way. According to NGS, Mahomes threw 44 deep touchdown passes (over 40 yards) between 2018 and 2021, the second-most in the league during that span, but has thrown just two deep touchdowns since 2022. Enter first-round WR Xavier Worthy, who ran a 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. The Chiefs clearly expect a lot from Worthy this season, and perhaps especially in this game with Marquise Brown (shoulder) out. All it took this preseason was a 37-yard pass from Mahomes to Worthy — despite him falling after the catch — to get Chiefs fans excited about their speedy rookie. Travis Kelce remains Mahomes’ go-to guy, and Kelce tore Baltimore apart in January with 11 catches (on 11 targets) for 116 yards and a TD. Rashee Rice is also expected to return to play a major role in the offense after a strong finish to his rookie season. But Worthy, who can also carry short passes far, should gain some experience in the opener. For the passing game to thrive down low, however, protection must be in place. Mahomes’ blind side will be protected by second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia, who earned the job at left tackle in camp and is considered a savvy, light-footed pass blocker. You can bet the Ravens will do everything in their power to overwhelm Suamataia in his first start, especially with overload blitzes, stunts and other DL plays that keep the rookie guessing as to where the rushers will be coming from. The Ravens have the horses in forward defense to keep Suamataia on his toes all night long.