Well, we’re right back where we started last season: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

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

Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson each took over as starting quarterbacks for their respective teams in 2018, with Kansas City and Baltimore meeting five times since then. Mahomes and the Chiefs have won four of those meetings, including last year’s AFC Championship Game in Baltimore. That was a testy one even before kickoff, with Mahomes and Travis Kelce tossing aside Justin Tucker’s helmet and kicking tee in 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 be working behind a rebuilt offensive line this season, but Baltimore also has a new weapon in running back Derrick Henry. The former Titans back has enjoyed some monster games against the Chiefs in the past and figures to be a big part of the Ravens’ attack this season.

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

1. Lamar vs. Chiefs defense. Jackson has had a tough go, all things considered, in his career against the Chiefs. The Ravens are 1-4 with Jackson starting against K.C., including last year’s playoff loss. Jackson actually has had some success as a runner versus the Chiefs, but it’s revealing that he’s averaged more yards per rush (6.49) than per pass attempt (6.47) against them. The fact that Jackson was not used more as a designed runner in the teams’ last meeting remains a major head scratcher — and it wouldn’t be shocking to see far more of that Thursday night. The Chiefs operated frequently out of a single-high look defensively in the playoff game, but Jackson struggled to take advantage. According to Next Gen Stats, Jackson was only 5-of-15 passing against the Chiefs in single-high after averaging 8.8 yards per attempt last regular season, the second-highest average in the league. On all other defensive looks in that game, Jackson averaged 9.0 yards against them. This offseason, the Chiefs traded away cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who had a tough coverage game against the Ravens but forced a critical fumble of Zay Flowers near the goal line. Trent McDuffie has now been thrust into the CB1 slot; who starts opposite him remains a question, with Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams the top options. It will be interesting to see whether 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 pair with the emerging Isaiah Kelly.
2. Mahomes hopes to keep success rolling vs. Ravens. Mahomes has had more career success against the Ravens, completing 72.8% of his passes and averaging 344 passing yards in those five outings with a 13-2 TD-INT ratio. The Ravens forced Mahomes into a slew of short passes in January, but he made them pay by completing 30 of his 39 attempts, not turning the ball over and taking only two sacks, both coming in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs up two scores. That defensive game plan was coordinated by Mike Macdonald, who left to take the Seahawks’ head-coaching job. How McDonald’s replacement, 32-year-old Zach Orr, tries to slow down Mahomes is anyone’s guess, but Orr appears to be earning his defenders’ trust. The Ravens led the NFL with 60 sacks last season, and though they lost some of that production, this is a fairly deep pass-rush group. The hope is that younger edge players such as Odafe Oweh (five sacks last season) can elevate their games. Baltimore also returns a deep, talented secondary led by the brilliant Kyle Hamilton, who can line up almost anywhere and handle nearly any coverage assignment. The Chiefs offense wasn’t its typically explosive self last season, with too many turnovers, stalled drives and dropped passes — especially down the field. This is a tough early test and measuring stick for this unit, but you can be sure it’ll try to generate more big pass plays starting with this game.
3. King Henry’s Ravens debut. The NFL’s leading active runner, Henry starts anew in Baltimore, where he signed this offseason after eight brilliant seasons in Tennessee. His per-game rushing average of 68.6 yards last season was Henry’s lowest mark since 2018, back when he was sharing the Titans’ rushing duties. Could Henry be slowing down at age 30, with more than 2,000 career carries? After all, he did have seven games in 2023 with 43 or fewer rush yards. But he also averaged 5.7 yards per carry in the final three games last season and closed it out in style with a 153-yard outing against the Jaguars in Week 18. Henry has also had good success against the Chiefs, racking up 672 rushing yards and eight TDs in six career meetings, including the postseason. He’s even thrown for three of his five career TD passes against the Chiefs, and hasn’t lost a fumble against them on 128 career touches. The Ravens have some worries up front on an offensive line that has questions, with two first-year starters, but the hope is that Henry and Jackson can be a dangerous pair on the ground who can compensate for any lack of blocking cohesion. This also can help open up the play-action game for the Ravens, which is where Jackson typically thrives — and an element the Chiefs struggled to stop a year ago. Per NGS, Jackson led all qualifying 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 non-play action dropbacks. In the AFC Championship Game, Jackson averaged 11.2 yards per attempt on play action versus 5.7 YPA without it. One of the Chiefs’ few defensive weaknesses a year ago came against play action, ranking 31st in defensive success rate against it.
4. Big tests for two Chiefs rookies. It’s funny to think the Chiefs needed to fix their offense this offseason, but their first two draft picks appeared to be designed to do just that. They won the Super Bowl while lacking the downfield prowess of previous Mahomes-led passing games. The biggest culprits were a cast of receivers who failed to consistently separate and/or catch the deep passes thrown their way. According to NGS, Mahomes threw 44 deep touchdown passes (40-plus yards) between 2018 and 2021, the second-most in the league over that span, but has only thrown two deep touchdowns since 2022. Enter first-round WR Xavier Worthy, who blazed a 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine. The Chiefs clearly are expecting a lot from Worthy this season, and perhaps especially in this game, with Marquise Brown (shoulder) ruled out. All it took was one 37-yard connection from Mahomes to Worthy this preseason — even though he fell down after the catch — for Chiefs fans to get excited about their rookie speedster. Travis Kelce remains Mahomes’ go-to guy, and Kelce carved up Baltimore with 11 catches (on 11 targets) for 116 yards and a TD in January. Rashee Rice also figures to reprise a major role in the offense after finishing strong his rookie season. But Worthy, who also can take short passes a long way, should get his feet quite wet in the opener. But in order for the deep passing game to thrive, the protection needs to be there. Protecting Mahomes’ blind side is second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia, who won the left tackle job in camp and who’s regarded as a savvy pass blocker with light feet. You can bet the Ravens will do everything in their power to try to overwhelm Suamataia in his first start, especially with overload blitzes, stunts and other DL games to keep the rookie guessing where rushers will come from. The Ravens have the horses up front to keep Suamataia busy all night long.