Patrick Mahomes issued a brutal piece of advice to Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely after he had a touchdown ruled out by the finest of margins on Thursday night.
The Kansas City Chiefs won the rematch of last season’s AFC Championship game 27-20 at Arrowhead Stadium – but the Ravens thought they had tied it up at 27-27 with zero seconds left on the clock.
Likely caught Lamar Jackson’s pass at the back of the end zone and started wildly celebrating with his teammates as coach John Harbaugh demanded a potential game-winning two-point conversion.
But video replay showed the impressive tight end’s toe was agonizingly out of bounds, prompting the Chiefs to storm onto the field and celebrate their victory with their fans.
Mahomes was asked by reporters in the aftermath what advice he would give to Likely to avoid such a scenario happening again.
+
5
View gallery
Patrick Mahomes delivered a brutal piece of advice to Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely
+
5
View gallery
Likely thought he’d scored a dramatic late touchdown but he stepped out of the end zone
+
5
View gallery
Replays showed his toe to be out of bounds, sending the Chiefs fans and players into a frenzy
The three-time Super Bowl winner simply replied: ‘You should wear white cleats next time. That’s my advice for him.’
It came just moments after Likely took to the podium and offered a bitter response about the Chiefs’ performance and prospects of winning a third-straight Super Bowl
‘This is probably the worst game we’re going to play all year,’ he said.
‘So, if this is the best that they’ve got I mean… good luck in the postseason.’
Ravens quarterback Jackson was bizarrely adamant that he still thought it was a touchdown, despite replays clearly showing Likely’s toe was out of bounds.
Dave Portnoy commented on the Jackson interview, posting: ‘What are the Ravens talking about part 1’.
The Barstool Sports chief then replied to the Likely interview, adding: ‘What are the Ravens talking about part 2’.
Earlier on Thursday, Portnoy revealed he had placed a $300,000 bet on the Ravens to win. He would have won $690,000 if the Likely touchdown would have stood.
+
5
View gallery
After the game, a bitter Likely delivered a brutal warning to the Chiefs about the playoffs
+
5
View gallery
It was the perfect start for Travis Kelce, Mahomes and the Chiefs’s three-peat attempt
Taylor Swift made her highly-anticipated return to Arrowhead Stadium as Travis Kelce and his teammates got their season off to the perfect start with a victory over a fierce AFC rival that could have playoff implications already.
It was also the perfect NFL debut for Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy, who showed off his blistering speed to score two touchdowns.
Jackson, meanwhile, produced an inspired performance to keep the Ravens in the game but he agonizingly missed a pass to a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone before he hit Likely, who was out of bounds, on the following play.
Jackson insisted afterwards that Rashod Bateman was the intended target for that pass, not Flowers.
‘I saw Bateman fly across,’ Jackson said. ‘I’m thinking Bateman is going to stop and as I throw the ball I see Zay fly across. That wasn’t intended for Zay Flowers.
‘I was teed off about that one because if I had held onto it for a bit longer, I’d have fired it to Zay. S*** happens.’
Mahomes threw for 291 yards and a touchdown before a herculean effort by the Chiefs kept the Ravens out of the end zone on three consecutive plays in the closing seconds
Rashee Rice caught seven passes for 103 yards for the Chiefs while Kelce caught three passes for 34 yards on a quiet night by his standards.
