Baltimore Beatdown staff reacts to the Ravens’ victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 12.
The Baltimore Ravens dominated the Los Angeles Chargers on both sides of the ball on Monday Night Football with a 30-23 win that takes them to 8-4.
Simply a masterclass of coaching and execution.John Harbaugh’s aggression paid dividends. Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken’s play-calling outmaneuvered the Chargers’ defense and Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr called his second straight excellent game. Pair this with the Ravens’ offense settling down on the penalties, splash plays from their stars (Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman) and the points were bound to come. The Ravens won an all-important AFC game that will be a significant factor in determining their fate in winning the division or Wild card seeding. — Kyle Phoenix
Once they were able to get out of their own way, the Ravens put together their most complete win of the year. Both sides of the ball were a little slow out of the gate, but both Todd Monken and Zach Orr found the answers from the second quarter onward. Todd Monken and Derrick Henry punished the Chargers’ light boxes all night, though it was Justice Hill who delivered the second-half knockout blow. Jackson was more than happy to hand the ball off and watch the carnage, but consistently made plays through the air when it mattered. Zach Orr deserves his flowers for one of the team’s best defensive performances of the year, especially with Roquan Smith sidelined. As usual, Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey led the way, but everyone contributed, whether it was Malik Harrison against the run or Tre’Davious White and Jalyn Armour-Davis against the pass. Nate Wiggins also continued his development into a lockdown outside cornerback. John Harbaugh also deserves credit for the team’s complete performance and his own aggression on several fourth-and-1 attempts that extended drives that later finished in the end zone. — Nikhil Mehta
The Ravens bounced back with a vengeance on Monday Night Football by getting back to who they are and leaning on their bread and butter on offense against one of the top defensive units in the league. Instead of abandoning the running game when Baltimore fell behind by two scores, Todd Monken stuck with it to dig his way out of a 10-0 hole and outscore the Chargers offense 30-9 over the last three quarters until the defense gave up a garbage time touchdown drive with victory well in hand. The Derrick Henry 20-plus carry truthers will feel vindicated as he had his first 100-plus rushing performance in three weeks with 140 on 24 carries. After a rough start, the Roquan Smith-less defense stepped up and put the clamps on the Chargers’ offense by getting off the field and holding them to field goals while the offense worked to establish and extend their lead. Malik Harrison in particular stepped up and led the team with a new single-game career-high 13 total tackles–his previous high was Week 8 of his rookie year in 2020 when he logged 11. The Ravens needed this win to stay right behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North race and get the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chargers in the wildcard standings. The fact that they won this game convincingly after how sloppy and sluggish it started on both sides of the ball in the first quarter should inspire more confidence in this team overall moving forward. — Joshua Reed