KANSAS CITY, Mo. — He may not win the Oscar, but Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy had an unforgettable opening act.
The rookie wide receiver from Texas, who broke the 40-yard dash record at the NFL combine in the spring, turned heads once again as he scored two touchdowns in the Chiefs’ 27-20 win against the Ravens on Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium in the season opener for both teams and a rematch of last year’s AFC title game.
Worthy scored his first touchdown the first time he touched the ball on 21-yard end around in the first quarter. He later scored on a 35-yard catch-and-run down the sideline to put the Chiefs up 10 in the fourth quarter.
“This is everything I dreamed of,” Worthy said. “Like I said before, I didn’t want to go nowhere else but the Chiefs. So just having this moment and it showing up how it did is an amazing feeling.”
Worthy finished with two catches for 47 yards and a touchdown receiving and 21 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground. Ironically, Worthy told Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy during the team’s morning walkthrough that he would score on the end around.
“It was crazy,” Worthy said. “We ran that in the preseason, and I fumbled so that was kind of bad. But for them just to have that trust in me.”
On the touchdown catch, Worthy got a free release on the Baltimore corner, and Patrick Mahomes hit him in stride.
“He’s so cool, calm and collected all the time, and you would never even see the excitement on him,” said Mahomes, who went 20 of 28 for 291 yards with a touchdown and a pick. “But he goes out there and makes plays. Obviously, we want to continue to use him more and more. But I thought he had a great day today making big plays in big moments.”
Worthy, the team’s first-round draft pick, started at wide receiver, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he could become a bigger part of the offense as the season goes along.
“He can run, and he’s got good hands, and is a smart kid,” Reid said. “He’ll keep growing as we go. He’s a competitive little guy.”
