Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 30 Chargers 23

John Harbaugh ran his record against his little brother to 3-0 as the Ravens beat the Los Angeles Chargers 30-23 on Monday Night Football.

RSR staff react to the win here.

Kevin McNelis

And… exhale.

It was ugly in the early going. Being in a 10-0 hole at the start of this one was far from ideal, but the second half went mostly for the good guys. I credit the coaching staff finally leaning into the run with Derrick Henry again, as he eclipsed 100 yards once again despite staying out of the end zone (thanks to an iffy call). Thankfully, Justice Hill hit a long TD run that was ultimately your dagger.

It’s far from ideal, and the Ravens have a lot to figure out. They’ve been held scoreless in the first quarter each of their last six games. The secondary looked way too soft to start this game. That said, way to adjust and stick with it. I can remember a time when a 10-0 hole felt insurmountable based on our offensive coordinator at the time. I wonder what that guy’s doing these days.

Derek Arnold

Unlike a week ago, the Ravens were able to overcome yet another slow start. In the first quarter, they had more penalty yards than yards of offense, Lamar Jackson again looked disjointed with inaccurate, and it was looking like the fifth quarter of the Pittsburgh game. Meanwhile, Justin Herbert & JK Dobbins walked the Roquan-less defense right down the field for six. The Flock was antsy.

But after going down 10-0, the Ravens scored 30 of the game’s next 36 points, thanks in large part to two long touchdowns on a Jackson-to-Rashod Bateman connection and a Justice Hill scamper, respectively. The defense tightened up a bit, but they were aided by a few key Chargers drops, and even more importantly, Dobbins exiting with a knee injury.

Derrick Henry established himself again after a couple quiet games (140 yards) and though his touchdown streak came to an end (thanks to, imagine, an illegal formation penalty), he kept the chains moving in big spots, including a huge fourth-down run and another 3rd-and-1 pickup where he stiff-armed not one, but two LA defenders into the dirt.

The penalties are still a huge problem (nine for 102 yards, including two on the OL and another on Pat Ricard), as are special teams mistakes (they allowed a big kick return and a decent-sized punt return), and those damn slow starts on offense.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Ravens game without a bunch of BS pass interference calls at the end and having to deal with an onside kick. CLOSE IT OUT!

A tough road win without your emotional leader on defense is nothing to sneeze at. Things don’t get any easier next week with Philly and Saquon Barkley coming to M&T Bank Stadium though. No rest for the weary.

Nick Polinsky

I’m not sure if it was just me, but the slow start didn’t deter me. It reminded me of the Bucs game, and the Ravens offense played to that level the rest of the way.

The Ravens didn’t punt the entire second half other than their final salt-away offensive drive, in part because of John Harbaugh’s ballsy 4th down calls. The Ravens executed when needed on 4th down and that was a big reason why they were able to pull away.

Lamar Jackson worked through some early struggles and ended up playing pretty well but the offense ran through Derrick Henry. Henry was gaining 5 or 6 yards at will and broke a few of his carries into the second level.

Defensively, I really don’t know what to make of the performance. They only allowed three second half points outside of the garbage time touchdown in the waning moments, but that was mostly because of the Ravens second half time of possession.

The middle of the field still seemed too available but that’s probably something you can assume will happen when you’re missing your anchor in that part of the field. They did enough to win, but the defensive performance was still nowhere close to the standard that needs to be met to go far.

For as much crap as John Harbaugh takes, his decisions are probably the reason the Ravens won this game comfortably. The Ravens were 3/3 on 4th down and scored 14 points off of Harbaugh’s two 4th-and-1 decisions in his own territory.

Through some early waves, this one fortunately ended in smooth sailing.

Jared Pinder

This was a must win for the Ravens. If they didn’t win this game they would be pretty much screwed on getting any kind of decent playoff seeding. Luckily they handled their business tonight. The offense was sluggish to start and they did have to overcome a 10-0 deficit, but they locked in and finished this game up. The offense was back to its normal self again after a slow start and Henry needs to be feed the ball constantly going forward. The defense was fine – not good, not awful, just fine. With this offense and considering that the refs gave the Chargers a touchdown late and how banged up they are, you take that.

Now comes a true test of wills, a red hot eagles team on a short week.

Rob Shields

This was a pretty predictable outcome. The game played out pretty much exactly how I thought it like although the injury to JK (hope he’s ok) did change the game some.

Credit to Harbaugh for going for that 4th down on his own 16. That turned the game around. And then to cash in on that beautiful throw and catch to Bateman for a TD, the whole outlook changed.

In fact all of the 4th downs were big calls.

I wanted this to be a Henry game and while Lamar didn’t throw for as much as I thought he would, Todd Monken called this game the way he should have.

I also thought the pass defense would continue to look better and it did tonight. There were some very iffy DPI called against them but overall, the defense played very well.  It’s a shame they let up the late TD and garbage yards or else things look even better.

This is a tough three-game stretch they are on. They’ve split the first two, now on a short week, get Philly. Hopefully Roquan can play in that game to help against Saquon.

Chad Racine

Lamar and company delivered again for Monday Night Football.  The Ravens had pretty comfortable control for most of the game. The penalties are still a significant problem that needs to improve immediately. The defense is finding its stride late in the season which is very encouraging. Considering they were without Roquan Smith makes it more impressive.

Nikhil Mehta

A 10-0 first-quarter deficit likely had Ravens fans sweating, but Lamar Jackson and the defense both took care of business over the next three quarters. The Chargers defense came in allowed just 14.5 points per game, but surrendered 30 points to a Ravens offense that could only be stopped by their own miscues. Once they cleaned up the flags, Baltimore was unstoppable, churning out yards on the ground with Derrick Henry and hitting a deep touchdown to Rashod Bateman. Justice Hill chipped in with excellent pass protection as usual, and his 51-yard touchdown was deeply satisfying for fans of a player who has done so much dirty work in his career.

And then there’s the much-maligned defense that has now stacked two excellent performances in back-to-back weeks. Herbert found some holes in the middle of the field early on, but the Ravens secondary was violent at the catch point with several PBUs from the cornerbacks. Malik Harrison, Tre’Davious White, and  Jalyn Armour-Davis all stepped up when their numbers was called, and Zach Orr deserves plenty of credit for pulling the right levers against Justin Herbert and Greg Roman.

Toss in some aggression from John Harbaugh against his brother and minimal mishaps on special teams, and that’s one of the Ravens’ most complete wins of the year.

Chris Schisler

The Ravens had a very interesting and valuable victory. I say interesting because the game was kind of all over the place. The Ravens came out flat, then stabilized, then took control. The Ravens needed the win to keep pace in the AFC North.

Lamar Jackson was mostly good in this game. He was missing high in the beginning almost as if he was throwing it to the Space Jam monsters or something. His value shined with his ability to avoid negative plays. There were a few plays the Chargers had him dead to rights and he skated away with a positive result.

The game turned on a gutsy fourth down inside the Ravens 20. I wouldn’t call it smart – and it would be mocked mercilessly if it had failed. The Ravens got it though. It was a gutsy call that left a huge imprint on the feel of the game. The Ravens won the game by coming up with big conversion after big conversion. It all started there.

Can we appreciate how good Rashod Bateman is? That touchdown was a fantastic catch.

It wasn’t perfect. Stylistically, the defense drives me crazy. I’ll take it, a big win here.

The post Knee-Jerk Reactions: Ravens 30 Chargers 23 appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/25/knee-jerk-reactions/knee-jerk-reactions-ravens-30-chargers-23/