KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy is expected to play for the first time since Week 1 when Kansas City faces the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in a matchup of AFC heavyweights desperate to avoid falling to 1-3 to start the season.
Worthy hurt his shoulder in the season-opener against the Chargers in Brazil when he ran into teammate Travis Kelce on a crossing route. The speedy wide receiver, who enjoyed a breakout rookie year capped by a big performance in the Super Bowl in February, practiced toward the end of last week but did not play against the Giants last Sunday night.
Worthy was a full participant in practice this week, though, and did not carry any injury designation on Friday.
“He feels good,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who is still missing suspended wide receiver Rashee Rice for three more games. “We don’t have to worry about his legs. He’s been able to keep himself in good shape and he’s ready to go.”
Worthy had 59 catches for 638 yards and six touchdowns last season. Given his world-class speed, he was expected to play a big role in a Kansas City offense that has been hoping to return to its high-flying ways this season.
“I think for us, at the end of the day, whenever we start getting these guys back, like Xavier and Rashee when he gets back, it’s going to make us even better,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “because guys had to step up, and they have.”
One of them has been Tyquan Thornton, a former second-round pick of the Patriots, who has gotten a fresh start in Kansas City. He has nine catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns through the first three weeks of the season.
“You’ve seen Hollywood (Brown), you’ve seen JuJu (Smith-Schuster), you’ve seen Tyquan all step up into their roles and have even bigger roles within the offense,” Mahomes said. “It’ll be an important week this week.”
The Chiefs opened the season with losses to the Chargers and in a Super Bowl rematch with the Eagles, while the Ravens are coming off a loss to the Lions in which they surrendered 17 fourth-quarter points. The result is two teams that met in the AFC championship game two seasons ago will be trying to avoid losing for the third time in four games on Sunday.
“We know we have to prove ourselves every week in this league, and didn’t do a good job last week,” Baltimore safety Kyle Hamilton said, “but we have another week this week and a big game — a big opportunity for us. The sky’s not falling. So we’ll be alright. I think we just need to attack this game.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
