KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns while outdueling Lamar Jackson, who left in the second half with a right hamstring injury, and the Kansas City Chiefs routed the beat-up Baltimore Ravens 37-20 on Sunday.
Xavier Worthy returned from a shoulder injury to catch five passes for 83 yards, igniting a Chiefs offense that had been struggling to find its footing without the speedster and his suspended teammate, Rashee Rice, early in the season.
The Chiefs (2-2) built a 20-10 halftime lead against Baltimore before cruising to their seventh win in the past eight meetings. The most recent time the Ravens (1-3) beat them was September 2021, and their previous win in Kansas City was on Oct. 7, 2021.
Jackson threw for 147 yards with a touchdown and his first interception of the season before hurting his hamstring midway through the third quarter, though by that point the game was mostly decided. Cooper Rush played the rest of the way for the Ravens, who suddenly find themselves in a dire situation just four weeks into the season.
Only five teams in the 14-team playoff era have started 1-3 and made the postseason.
Derrick Henry finished with just eight carries for 42 yards for Baltimore. Justice Hill had a late 71-yard touchdown run.
While the Chiefs were getting healthier with the return of Worthy, the Ravens defense — already decimated by injuries — thinned even more when linebacker Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins got hurt. That left the Ravens without seven of their defensive starters — among them two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike and defensive end Broderick Washington Jr., who went on injured reserve Saturday — by the early minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs took advantage of that beleaguered defense, too.
An offense that had been inconsistent through the first three weeks scored on its first four possessions Sunday. Harrison Butker knocked through a pair of field goals, then Mahomes hit JuJu Smith-Schuster with a short TD throw and Marquise Brown with the first of his two touchdown receptions to give Kansas City a 20-7 lead late in the first half.
The Chiefs nearly made it 5 for 5 on scoring drives, but Butker missed a 56-yarder wide left. That opened the door for Baltimore to get a 43-yard field goal from Tyler Loop and make it a 10-point game at the break.
But the mounting injuries, coupled with a red-hot Kansas City offense, were far too much to overcome.
The Chiefs needed just six plays to drive 65 yards for Tyquan Thornton’s touchdown reception to start the second half. And after the Ravens added Loop’s second field goal, the Chiefs answered with one of their own, before Mahomes threw a nifty pass to Brown in the end zone early in the fourth quarter to put the game well out of reach.
In fact, the Chiefs were able to give most of their starters a curtain call with five minutes left in the game.
Injuries
Ravens: Along with Jackson, Smith, Humphrey and Wiggins, LT Ronnie Stanley (ankle) also left the game and did not return.
Chiefs: There were no injuries for Kansas City.
Up next
Baltimore plays Houston next Sunday. Kansas City visits Jacksonville next Monday night.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
