Chargers Lose Grip on Early Lead and Fall to Baltimore
Failing to take advantage of an early 10-0 lead, the Chargers succumb to a dynamic Baltimore Ravens offense and see their four-game winning streak vanish.
Austin Gage | Contributing Sports Writer
Failing to take advantage of an early 10-0 lead, the Chargers succumb to a dynamic Baltimore Ravens offense and see their four-game winning streak vanish.
A week after a thrilling Sunday night victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chargers returned to the primetime lights this week at Sofi Stadium to face the Baltimore Ravens.
However, they would not have the same luck as they did eight days ago, as they fell Monday night to the AFC North foe 30-23.
Baltimore, who entered the game the victor in seven out of their last nine games, and Los Angeles, who rode a four-game winning streak entering the game, faced off in a matchup that certainly will play a part in the AFC playoff picture. Entering Monday night, both teams shared a record with seven wins, with the Ravens totaling four losses compared to the Chargers’ three due to a Week 5 bye for the Bolts.
The Week 11 showdown also shared another storyline worth relaying. The contest served as the third-ever matchup between head-coaching brothers Jim, Chargers, and John, Ravens. The previous two matchups were won by John’s Ravens teams, including the matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
Los Angeles began the game on a strong note, using the first five minutes and 15 seconds on an opening scoring drive. Quickly, quarterback Justin Herbert found his favorite target in rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey for 17 yards, who enjoyed a career-high last week against the Bengals with 123 yards receiving. Pairing solid gains through the air and gashes from running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, the Chargers efficiently drove down the field inside the Baltimore five-yard line. From there, Herbert stepped up past a collapsing pocket and ran in a five-yard rushing score for the game’s first points. Against the league’s most productive team offensively, Los Angeles understood that many scores would likely be necessary for a victory and took an early 7-0 lead.
Attempting to respond to the Chargers’ opening drive, the Ravens, lead by MVP front-runner Lamar Jackson, tried to construct one of their own. However, an unnecessary roughness penalty negated a healthy 17-yard gain to receiver Nelson Agholor and the Ravens were forced to punt away the football.
Failing to repeat the success of their opening drive, Los Angeles punted the ball back to Baltimore. Despite another good gain through the air to McConkey, who caught six catches for 83 yards on the night and continued his excellent play in his debut season, the Chargers offense stalled thanks to an offensive holding call.
Thankfully for Los Angeles, another great defensive possession held the dynamic Raven offense in check for the second straight drive. Receiving the ball for the third time, the Chargers capitalized on a 17-yard run on third down from Dobbins to march into the Ravens’ territory as the clocks struck zero for the first quarter.
The drive progressed but suffered a semi-disappointing conclusion as the Bolts had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from kicker Cameron Dicker. From there on, the game flipped in the Ravens’ favor as the Charger defense cracked to the combination of star running back Derrick Henry and Jackson.
First, Jackson culminated a seven-play, 70-yard drive with a nifty ten-yard rushing score. Highlights from the drive included three effective Henry rushes of 19, 14 and 11 yards. The score cut Los Angeles’ lead to 10-7 and swung the momentum in the favor of the visitors.
Later in the quarter, needing a fourth down conversion rush up the middle on a direct snap by Baltimore tight end Mark Andrews, Jackson and the Ravens took to the air. Following a third down conversion to talented wide receiver Zay Flowers created by an improvised play by Jackson, the latter found wide receiver Rashod Bateman in the endzone off a 40-yard bomb near the near left pylon. Despite a defensive pass interference call on Los Angeles cornerback Kristian Fulton, Bateman secured the catch in miraculous fashion. The Ravens took a 14-10 lead.
Although the Chargers were able to sneak in a field goal right before halftime, the Ravens took a 14-13 lead into the locker room that they would not give up.
On the first drive of the third quarter, Jackson, a two-time league MVP looking for his third, linked up with Flowers once again for 25 yards. Desperately needing anything to grasp onto in terms of halting the momentum, Los Angeles star safety Derwin James Jr. sacked Jackson on second down and the defense stopped a potential second third-down conversion of the drive. Baltimore relied on kicker Justin Tucker for a 45-yard field goal to finish the drive, and they took a 17-13 lead early in the third quarter.
Realizing that the game was gradually slipping away from them, Herbert and the offense needed to respond. Starting at their own 30-yard line, the Bolts used a trio of passes, the greatest being a 19-yard completion from McConkey on a play in which Herbert evaded a blitzing Baltimore defender, to reach an apex at the Ravens’ 34-yard line. From there, as the drive stalled out, Dicker bailed out the offense once again with a long 52-yard field goal that inched the Chargers within one.
Unlike the first quarter, Los Angeles could not string together big-time stops on defense. Starting with just over four minutes left in the third quarter, Baltimore used a backbreaking 14-play, 70-yard drive to add another touchdown on the board. With two fourth-down conversions on the drive, Henry took over to make sure the Ravens would end the drive with points once again. It was another dominant outing for the superstar, as he ended Monday night with 140 yards on the ground on 24 carries. Jackson would punch in the finishing touches on the drive on third and goal on a touchdown pass to Andrews after the catch was initially ruled incomplete and then reversed. The explosive Jackson completed 16 of 22 attempts for 177 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air to go along with 15 rushing yards and the score on the ground off of 8 rushes.
The Chargers saw themselves in a 23-16 hole early in the fourth quarter after an unsuccessful two-point conversion.
A cooled-off Los Angeles offense, one that was without Dobbins for the remainder of the game due to injury, produced a three-and-out and gave the ball right back. A negative seven-yard play on first down ruined any chances of a game-tying drive and made sure that the Chargers would need to rely on their defense to stop the red-hot Raven unit.
That much-needed stop would not come. After a first-down conversion by Henry on the ground, Baltimore would face another third down three plays later. This time though, Henry was not the one who killed the Chargers’ hopes. Insert backup running back Justice Hill, a veteran back who has been in Baltimore his entire five-year career in purple, black, and gold. Hill bounced the third down carry to the left and sped past the Los Angeles defense for the clincher. The 51-yard scamper represented a career-long for Hill and the Ravens took a 30-16 lead they would hold on to the rest of the way.
With no juice on offense, the Chargers once again went three-and-out and had to punt. A sack by veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy eliminated any chances of going for it on fourth down as the Bolts stared at a fourth and 18.
Though the defense finally stopped the Baltimore offense, the game was close to its finish. Herbert did go on to lead a scoring drive with 46 seconds left in the game, a drive that was capped by an Edwards one-yard scoring plunge, but any hopes of stealing back the game relied on an onside kick attempt by Dicker. The Bolts looked at a 30-23 deficit as they attempted the onside try.
Unfortunately for Los Angeles, Baltimore tight end Isaiah Likely secured the football safely and made sure that the Ravens could kneel the ball out for the victory. With no timeouts, Baltimore escaped with a 30-23 road victory and the Chargers dropped their fourth game of the season in a cleanly-played game with zero turnovers.
“I thought across the board they made the plays. Give them a lot of credit. A really efficient game from their standpoint on both sides of the ball,” said Harbaugh regarding the Ravens.
Looking ahead, Los Angeles will travel to Atlanta in Week 13 to face the 6-5 Falcons in a matchup against another playoff hopeful on December 1st.
“There are a lot of good things that we did and some things that we need to clean up. So when we watch the film tomorrow, we’re going to be critical about it, be honest with ourselves because these are the games that you want to be playing in November and December and hopefully in January as well. So, we’ve just got to keep building off of it,” Herbert said.
