The Ravens once more flirted with catastrophe because of a disjointed offense and a surprising 44-yard miss from kicker Justin Tucker, however their protection got here up with a pair of important fourth-quarter stops to safe a highway win over the high-scoring Chargers.
Here are 5 issues we discovered from the 20-10 win.
This was a win to ease however not erase doubts
We felt the dread.
How may we not after comparable leads evaporated, after the Ravens did not seize comparable possibilities, in defeats to Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cleveland? How does a workforce virtually by no means path, but hold its fan base in a state of near-constant anxiousness? The Ravens appeared ready to point out us once more after Tucker, solely essentially the most dependable kicker within the historical past of kicking, yanked a 44-yard try exterior the left upright, maintaining the rating 13-10 with rocket-armed Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert desirous to drive the opposite method.
If you didn’t assume the Ravens had been in sizzling water at that juncture, you’re fabricated from sterner (or extra blindly optimistic) stuff than most.
They didn’t falter this time, because of a protection that stored pursuing, stored punishing, stored swatting balls to the bottom till the job was completed.
Throw in a touch of ending exuberance from rookie Zay Flowers they usually sashayed into their bye week with one other double-digit victory and the AFC’s finest report.
Glass-half-full take? The Ravens can win in a greater variety of how than any workforce within the convention and maybe within the NFL. On an evening when their offense lacked a transparent id, their protection offered it. They led the final 40:41 of the sport in opposition to a doomed however harmful opponent. They’re 9-3, with 5 highway wins, as a result of they reliably outhit and outgain opponents of each selection.
And hey, simply to repeat, they did end this one off.
“The narrative is not something we really care about. It’s the fact that the guys stepped up and won the game,” coach John Harbaugh stated. “We’ve won nine games, and all of those games had to be closed out in the fourth quarter one way or another. A couple of them were closed out in the third quarter. Three of them weren’t. We want the three back, but we got the one tonight, and I’m proud of the guys for that.”
So why does full confidence stay elusive? Probably as a result of this victory adopted the identical sample as these earlier defeats, with the Ravens struggling to search out offensive coherence when it was time for them to press their benefit. Lamar Jackson was the Most Valuable Player candidate in the home, so why couldn’t he discover a significant reference to any of his receivers after halftime? Why did the Ravens go away from their apparent strengths on third and fourth down?
Now, again to the large image. No workforce within the NFL of 2023 has impressed complete perception. Not the Philadelphia Eagles with their bucketful of too-close-for-comfort wins. Not the Kansas City Chiefs with their dropped passes. Not the San Francisco 49ers with their wayward October. Not the Miami Dolphins with their highway hiccups. Every member of the NFL’s prime tier continues to be striving to cohere.
For all their uneasy fourth quarters, at the very least the Ravens are maintaining the appropriate firm.
Give all the sport balls to the protection
Jackson reduce to the center of the matter as he clutched a recreation ball throughout his post-victory interview with NBC’s Melissa Stark.
“The defense the ones who deserve this ball; they set the tone, and they finished the game,” he stated. “We need to regroup. We can’t be coming out here flat like this.”
Give the Ravens’ franchise participant factors for brutal honesty. On an evening when Jackson couldn’t end drives in opposition to suspect Chargers resistance, it was Baltimore’s protection that dominated.
Gnawing anxiousness permeated Ravens fandom because the Chargers took 18 performs — so many hunt-and-peck throws to ageless and uncoverable broad receiver Keenan Allen — to maneuver inside 16 yards of the tip zone early within the fourth quarter. Such moments had gone poorly for the Ravens in a trio of earlier losses, however on the nineteenth play of the drive, Clowney overpowered his blocker to shut in on Herbert and jerk the ball from his grasp.
One menace denied.
That wasn’t the tip of our indigestion, nonetheless. Tucker’s miss put the Ravens proper again on Alka-Seltzer watch. Herbert took the ball at his personal 34-yard line with loads of time to erase a three-point deficit, and a fast 17-yard completion had the Chargers inside shouting distance of a subject objective. Again, the Ravens stated not tonight, combining stress and stingy protection to stifle one of many NFL’s most gifted passers at midfield.
The Chargers’ disappointing report and ineptitude in shut video games obscures their still-potent offense. They got here in averaging 25.9 factors, with the fewest turnovers within the league. The Ravens held them to 10 factors and took the ball away 4 instances. The Chargers had scored touchdowns on two-thirds of their purple zone possessions coming in, the league’s second-highest charge. They managed one landing on three journeys Sunday night time.
We have stated all of it season, however it’s placing what number of heroes come up in every Ravens defensive masterpiece. Clowney, actually one of the vital significant late-summer additions made by any would-be contender, made that important strip. He and defensive sort out Justin Madubuike spent a lot of the night in Herbert’s private house.
We’ll speak about security Kyle Hamilton’s versatility in a second, however what about the remainder of the defensive backs, maintaining the Chargers’ playmakers in entrance of all of them night time? What about linebacker Patrick Queen, who had been picked on in protection every week earlier, stepping as much as defend a go with the sport hanging within the stability? What about nickel again Arthur Maulet, rattling Herbert with a blitz on the identical collection?
We can’t situate this group within the annals of nice Ravens defenses till we all know how the story ends, however they punish ball carriers, get after quarterbacks, don’t permit chunk performs and stand tall on third down and within the purple zone. They do it with out counting on a single transcendent participant, although they’ve many Pro Bowl candidates. That’s fairly near the best method for a contemporary NFL protection.
Kyle Hamilton turns into regardless of the Ravens want him to be on every possession
On the Chargers’ second drive, Hamilton discarded a block and torpedoed in to drop Derius Davis for a 2-yard loss. On the subsequent play, he was the first go rusher forcing Herbert to throw the ball away.
The subsequent time Los Angeles had the ball, Hamilton caught step for step with speedy Jalen Guyton to interrupt up a deep try from Herbert.
In the third quarter, he shoved by means of a Guyton block within the flat to drag Keenan Allen down for a 2-yard loss.
Every week now, we see these juxtapositions of wildly completely different expertise from the second-year security, whom Browns coach Kevin Stefanski aptly in comparison with NBA wunderkind Victor Wembanyama. Do you need Hamilton to be a 3rd inside linebacker? A streaking edge rusher? An eraser of slot targets? He can do all of it, generally in the midst of a single drive.
Linebacker Roquan Smith is the outspoken chief of the Ravens’ protection. Cornerback Brandon Stephens is the revelation we by no means noticed coming. The go rushers have blown away expectations. But none of them is extra helpful than the 6-foot-4 chameleon who seems headed for his first Pro Bowl.
Hamilton entered the sport among the many workforce’s prime 5 in tackles, interceptions, passes defended, tackles for loss and sacks. He had the fifth-highest protection grade amongst all beginning safeties, in keeping with Pro Football Focus. If one participant epitomizes the positionless protection advocated by coordinator Mike Macdonald, he’s it.
The Ravens caught an early break when security Geno Stone was not penalized for hitting Herbert out of bounds within the purple zone and Chargers guard Jamaree Salyer was whistled for a private foul throughout the ensuing fracas. That left the Chargers with only a subject objective to point out for his or her impressively balanced opening drive.
The Ravens’ offense stored the Chargers within the recreation
The Chargers got here in permitting 5.8 yards per play whereas the Ravens got here in averaging 5.8 per play. When Jackson accomplished 11 of his first 13 makes an attempt, it appeared the feast was on.
“I have no idea where you begin to defend this guy,” NBC analyst and former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett stated as he watched Jackson dance and carve his method by means of the Chargers.
Except the Ravens stored blowing possibilities to maintain shifting.
The Chargers chased them off the sphere on their first drive when defensive finish Morgan Fox beat Tyler Linderbaum to harass Jackson right into a throwaway.
They squandered an opportunity at factors late within the second quarter once they tried a direct snap to Gus Edwards on fourth-and-1 deep in Chargers territory. Why take away the menace posed by Jackson on a short-yardage play? Coordinator Todd Monken overthought that one.
They couldn’t block venerable go rusher Khalil Mack. Ronnie Stanley, again at left sort out after he missed the earlier recreation with a knee damage, was disconcerted sufficient by Mack that he jumped early when the Ravens had been making an attempt to place the sport away within the fourth quarter.
Twice Harbaugh did not throw his problem flag when suspect spots left the Ravens wanting third-down conversions (he stated Jackson appeared legitimately brief on the primary and that coaches didn’t notice the second play was noticed brief till it was too late).
The Ravens’ league-best working recreation piled up one other 197 yards, however they curiously went away from it for stretches of the second half when the Chargers appeared ripe to be pounded into oblivion.
The remaining numbers — 5.2 yards per play, 20 first downs — look first rate, however the Ravens grew to become noticeably much less environment friendly in Chargers territory, and Jackson went chilly in opposition to stress. They by no means scored on two straight drives and transformed on simply 4 of 13 third downs.
Isaiah Likely obtained off to a promising begin standing in for Mark Andrews
In the wake of Andrews’ devastating ankle damage, Harbaugh stated the Ravens had been higher geared up than in previous years to cowl for the lack of Jackson’s “bread and butter” goal.
That begins with a extra gifted broad receiver room, however Likely, their gifted second-year tight finish, is the opposite key hedge in opposition to Andrews’ absence. He has not constructed up the uncanny sixth sense that guides Andrews to open areas when a play breaks down, however he brings his personal uncommon abilities to the offense.
Witness Likely’s acceleration when he took a display screen go 18 yards on the Ravens’ second drive. Or the sharp reduce — a transfer not obtainable to most 241-pound males — he unleashed to show a brief catch into an 11-yard acquire on their subsequent possession.
Recall that Likely’s mobility and fury in including yards to each catch had been the traits that popped our eyes throughout his sensible summer time of 2022. We noticed glimpses when he stood in for Andrews in a pair of video games final season, and we noticed them once more Sunday.
Jackson must search for different solutions as nicely, most notably slants to broad receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Rashod Bateman, each of whom made important grabs within the first half in opposition to the Chargers.
Andrews’ absence was felt when the Ravens’ passing assault sputtered within the second half. Jackson didn’t all the time know the place to look when the warmth was on, and his receivers didn’t all the time decide him up when he did make the appropriate learn.
The expertise is there. It’s the second-nature belief, which Jackson has solely ever shared with Andrews, that’s a piece in progress.
Week 14
Rams at Ravens
Sunday, Dec. 10, 1 p.m.
TV: Fox
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com