The Ravens were millimeters away from potentially starting the season 1-0.
In Thursday night's kickoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Jackson found Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone with no time left for what was originally ruled a touchdown. However, upon automatic review, Likely's big toe was just barely out of bounds.
Had Likely just had slightly smaller feet, the Ravens would have trailed by one and probably attempted a two-point conversion with a chance to knock off the back-to-back Super Bowl champions at their stadium. Instead, it was heartbreak to open the season.
"You have to live with that call," Likely said.
"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."
Jackson isn't so sure that Likely didn't.
"I thought it was a touchdown," Jackson said. "I still think it's a touchdown."
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes joked, "[You] just have to wear white cleats next time. That's my advice for him."
Before that final play, the Ravens had another near-miss at a touchdown. After stepping up in the pocket, Jackson fired a pass that looked like it was thrown behind a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone, but after the game Jackson revealed he was actually targeting Rashod Bateman.
"I tried to get out of the pocket, and I saw [Rashod] Bateman flying across, so I'm thinking [that] Bateman was going to stop, and as I'm throwing the ball, I see Zay [Flowers] flying across," Jackson said. "That wasn't intended for Zay Flowers. I was ticked off about that, because if I held onto it a bit more, I would've just fired it to Zay for the touchdown."
