Thursday’s season opener left us with a lot to talk about. The Ravens offensive identity, the wild finish, illegal formation penalties, kicks and more. The one storyline that stands out to me is the immediate impact of wide receiver Xavier Worthy (and the subsequent Bills trolling).
Worthy had only three touches, but he made the most of them with 68 scrimmage yards, including a 21-yard touchdown run and a 35-yard touchdown reception.
He had only a five percent chance of scoring on his landing field. Clearly his combine record 4.21 40 speed translates into play.
He had as many 20-plus-yard touchdowns on Thursday as all the Chiefs’ passing yards combined in 2023 (two). He was the first wideout with 20-plus yards rushing and a receiving touchdown in the same game in four years when Tyreek Hill did it for the Chiefs.
His presence was felt beyond the three touches he had, too. It’s no coincidence that Patrick Mahomes averaged his most yards per attempt (10.4) in a game since Week 7 of 2022 against the 49ers.
“Just having him out there, it just opens things up,” Mahomes said. “You saw when he’s out there, they play shell coverages. It gets guys like [Travis Kelce] and it becomes guys like [Rashee Rice] open underneath, and that’s what’s so great about that offense is we can do all of that, and that’s when we’re at our best.”
He has a point. Worthy saw the field for 31 of the Chiefs’ 50 offensive snaps in Week 1. They averaged a whopping 9.5 yards per play with him on the field and 3.1 with him off. Even if you take away the broken coverage where he caught a 35-yard touchdown pass, it was still 8.6 with him on the field.
Chiefs With Xavier Worthy On/Off Field – Week 1 vs. Ravens
On | Off | |
Games | 31 | 19 |
Yards per game | 9.5 | 3.1 |
Dropback rate | 77% | 37% |
As you can see from the heat map of Mahomes completions, he tore up the middle of the field with Worthy on the field, going 12 of 15 for 187 yards (12.5 yards per attempt) between the numbers. Rashee Rice had 102 of his 103 receiving yards with Worthy on the field. 83 of those yards were on catches made between the hashes (yes, the tiny bit of real estate over the middle).
TruMedia Sports
Yes, of course, it’s only one game (small sample size warning), but the “Legion of Zoom” may be back in Kansas City.
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