I may or may not have Mark Andrews on my fantasy team and may or may not be regretting my decision to not pick up an extra tight end. Isaiah Likely played like a legit superstar in Thursday’s NFL kickoff game for the Baltimore Ravens, as Lamar Jackson went with him as his go-to guy over Andrews.
Bad for my fantasy team. Good for the Ravens in their quest to avenge their AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Alas, electric as Likely’s long touchdown catch-and-run was…
ISAIAH LIKELY SO GOOD
📺: #Kickoff2024 on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/wusReXzb9I— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
…He was a fraction away from giving Baltimore a late TD, and you better believe John Harbaugh was holding up a peace sign to get a potential winning 2-point conversion play in thereafter.
LAMAR TO LIKELY???
📺: #Kickoff2024 on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/vCRoiX08rO— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
The Ravens were THIS CLOSE to scoring the game-tying touchdown 👀#Kickoff2024 pic.twitter.com/08KjTVFHQZ
— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
out by an inch 😱#Kickoff2024 pic.twitter.com/TUeV7bxF6z
— NFL (@NFL) September 6, 2024
What I immediately thought of when Likely’s big toe landed on the back line was Kevin Durant, who shot a would-be go-ahead 3-pointer with his toe on the line in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. One of the bigger Sliding Doors moments in recent NBA history. That was against the Milwaukee Bucks. They went on to win that contest in overtime, and proceeded to win the 2021 NBA Finals from there. Had KD been an inch further back, who knows? Maybe Steve Nash is still coaching in Brooklyn with a championship in tow!
Anyway, that’s the imagery that almost all of NFL Twitter’s minds jumped to. Love me a good cross-sports analogy. This KD-Likely parallel was particularly on the nose, though.
The Kevin Durant Special 😭 pic.twitter.com/A5lkXdtizY
— Marcelas (@MarcelasHoward) September 6, 2024
Isaiah Likely 🤝 Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/QMZee88uHc
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) September 6, 2024
Isaiah Likely Kevin Durant
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) September 6, 2024
Kevin Durant rn pic.twitter.com/P7c9kigwlY
— Velodus (@velodus) September 6, 2024
Isaiah Likely & Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/GrwzPInipt
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) September 6, 2024
Dang!! Got darn Kevin Durant toe cost the Ravens the game! You know what they say about people with big feet…
Yea me neither. Hell of a game!
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) September 6, 2024
…And so on. You get the picture. Hell of an opening night game, my goodness. People will probably forget that Lamar, a two-time regular-season MVP, missed a wide-open Likely in the back of the end zone two plays earlier, and sailed it wide of Zay Flowers streaking across his face. That sounds a little naughty but you likely know what I mean in football parlance.
Oh wait somebody else noticed this! Thank goodness!
Lamar Jackson seeing the main story of the game become Isaiah Likely's Toe instead of Lamar missing open receivers in the end zone on the 2 previous plays #Kickoff2024 pic.twitter.com/OD2B9qQjiM
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) September 6, 2024
I was literally watching the speech by Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday before the game kicked off. Who knew it’d be so apropos? Somehow, it feels like the Chiefs always get that extra inch. Might have something to do with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. Just maybe.
