Quick takes watching Chiefs win: Odd timeout, Romo's best, and yeah, Taylor Swift
The pre-game flyover from a B2 Spirit bomber was cancelled due to weather and cloud cover, but there were plenty of fireworks on the field before Sunday’s AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens even kicked off at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
There was a skirmish during warmups between Ravens cornerback Arthur Maulet and Chiefs defensive backs, with Maulet even throwing a punch before being separated by teammates and officials. Then there was some snarky gamesmanship between the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce against Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.
As Tucker was trying to warm up near the Chiefs’ goal line (which was strange to begin with), Kelce reached over and tossed the kicker’s helmet and two footballs away to give Mahomes more room to loosen up. Later, Mahomes reached down and did the same thing to Tucker’s kicking tee.
“It’s about to get explosive in here,” former Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis told CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson before the game.
Oh, it got explosive, all right. And the CBS camera crews only panned to Taylor Swift three times to her spot in the VIP suite during the first half.
The Chiefs prevailed 17-10 to advance to Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas — their fourth appearance in the Super Bowl in the past five years. It wasn’t the high-scoring slugfest every oddsmaker and TV talking head seemed to assume, but it was a heavyweight brawl full of drama and excitement almost all the way to the end.
Even after Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s pass to tight end Isaiah Likely was intercepted in the end zone by Deon Bush with 6:45 left to play, it was still a game. Kudos, by the way, to CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore for noting there was some contact during the play but correctly adding, “It was a good no-call for pass interference.”
Tucker’s 43-yard field goal with 2:34 remaining pulled the Ravens to within seven points. They had two timeouts left plus the two-minute warning to try and pull off a comeback, but it wasn’t to be. Back-to-back defensive penalties on Baltimore, plus a 32-yard deep completion from Mahomes to receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, helped salt things away.
Here are some of my rapid reactions and observations from watching the CBS telecast from a semi-quiet spot somewhere in the West Valley:
Criticism of Ravens' first-half offense
The Ravens and Jackson never really were able to get into a sustainable rhythm during the first half, which saw them trail 17-7 at halftime. The NFL’s leading rushing attack (156.5 yards per game) barely ran the ball and that didn’t allow Jackson to find any sort of groove.
It wasn’t until halftime when analysts Boomer Esiason and Bill Cowher both addressed the problem and color commentator Tony Romo did the same, saying, “They’ve got to get back to running the football. That’s what you’re best at; then start throwing the football.”
Heads-up stats
Following a successful fourth-down conversion and a defensive holding penalty on Baltimore's Arthur Maulet, Mahomes fired a perfect strike to Kelce in the right corner of the end zone for a 7-0 lead with stud safety Kyle Hamilton playing tight coverage. The CBS crew nailed it when they revealed it was the first touchdown reception by a tight end allowed all season by Hamilton.
Another nugget was revealed after Mahomes led the Chiefs on a 16-play, 75-yard scoring drive, capped by a short touchdown run by Isaiah Pacheco to give Kansas City a 14-7 lead. It lasted nine minutes, two seconds and the broadcast noted it was the third-longest drive in Mahomes’ career.
About that 'administrative timeout'
Following the Chiefs’ first touchdown, nobody seemed to know why an unusual 'administrative timeout' was called. Play-by-play man Jim Nantz, came back after a commercial break to explain it was due to a drone that was flying too close to the stadium — and it didn’t belong to CBS.
Some top Tony Romo lines
When Ravens' linebacker Roquan Smith leveled a Chiefs' ball carrier: “You could hear that all the way up here. That was like Clubber Lang in 'Rocky III' — pain!”
When Kelce had a second-quarter reception for his eighth catch of the game, surpassing Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (151) for the most postseason receptions all-time: “Wow. It’s hard to pass Jerry Rice in anything.”
When Jackson caught his own deflected pass and ran for a 13-yard gain: “One of the greatest plays in the history of the AFC Championship game.” The drive, however, ended with a deflected pass on third and 9.
Nantz had a good one too
When Ravens defensive tackle Travis Jones clotheslined Mahomes in the neck, drawing a third-quarter roughing the passer penalty: “Haven’t seen that since ‘The Longest Yard.’ ”
When it was over and the two-time Super Bowl champion Mahomes was asked by sidelie reporter Tracy Wolfson for his reaction, he said, “The job’s not over. We’ve got to go out to Las Vegas and finish this.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Quick takes from Chiefs-Ravens CBS broadcast: More than just Taylor Swift
