Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likley was millimeters from being the hero of his team's Week 1 opener against the Kansas City Chiefs when he hauled in a game-tying touchdown pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson with no time remaining. However, replays showed that the tip of his left toe came down out of bounds, and the defending Super Bowl champions won the game 27-20. Afterward, the third-year pass-catcher took all the blame.
“I got to get both feet in,” Likely summed up simply to reporters after the game, per The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec.
The former Coastal Carolina Chanticleer also made it clear that, as a team, the Ravens need to play better so they don't get into that type of late-game situation to begin with.
“At this point, you just gotta live with the call,” Likely said in his postgame press conference. “[We'll] watch the film. See what we can do better to not put us in the situation where, you know, to leave it in the ref's hands to be able to call that call.”
Despite the obvious disappointment and frustration Likely had after the game, the silver lining from this one is that the Ravens may have a new star on their hands after this performance.
Ravens' Isaiah Likley looked like a star against the Chiefs
Despite the Ravens' loss to the Chiefs, there were some good things that Baltimore can take away from the 2024 opener. Lamar Jackson looked impossible to contain, as usual, the offensive line improved as the game went along, and some young players on the defense like Trenton Simpson and David Ojabo looked good.
However, the most interesting development is that tight end Isaiah Likely looked like the team's most dangerous weapon, catching nine balls for 111 yards and a touchdown while also almost tying the game with a spectacular catch that was only out of bounds by a hair.
The emergence of Likely is a bit of a surprise, but his role in the offense now seems clear, and bigger than fellow tight end Mark Andrews' role. The latter turned 29 the day after the game and after several injury-filled seasons, it now seems as though there is a new TE in town in Baltimore.
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