REPORT CARD: An Offensive Awakening in LA

The Ravens initially appeared to have brought their Pittsburgh funk with them to Los Angeles as they quickly fell behind the Chargers 10-0. But things turned around pretty resoundingly from there, and the Ravens rolled, then held on for dear life, to post a solid win on the road against a tough opponent.

Let’s look at some grades.

Offense: A

The Ravens’ first two drives produced 5 yards of offense, and the good guys were already down 10-0 when they came out on the field for that third drive. From that point on — as we’ve seen them do time and time again this season — they exploded, going Touchdown, Touchdown, Field Goal, Touchdown, Touchdown. All of a sudden, the Ravens had 30 points, they had run for 212 yards and they battered another celebrated defense. This was a good showing against a quality opponent.

Quarterback: A-

Like the rest of the offense, Lamar Jackson did not look good at the start of this game. He was high with a few throws, and things seemed disjointed. But then he had a nice scramble-and-throw to Mark Andrews on a third-and-five, capped off that drive with a nifty 10-yard run and then we saw a very good Jackson after that. Both of his touchdown throws were perfectly placed, and the 25-yard toss to Zay Flowers on third-and-10 in the third quarter was a pivotal play. Jackson was 16-22 for 177 yards and those two touchdowns, and added 15 more and another score on the ground.

Running Backs: A+

With the Chargers leading 10-0-, the Ravens went to Derrick Henry on consecutive runs to start their third possession and the big man reeled off 32 yards and kick-started the Ravens’ offense. He finished with 140 yards on 24 carries. Those big runs got Henry his numbers, but an underrated carry was a third-and-one run in the fourth quarter when he bounced outside and stiff-armed two defenders to move the chains. Justice Hill had a great blitz pickup on Mark Andrews’ touchdown, but he will probably remember his career-best 51-yard touchdown run the most. Patrick Ricard had some massive blocks all night, but he did pick up a leg-whip flag in the first quarter that put the Ravens behind down and distance.

Receivers: B+

This wasn’t a high-volume game for the pass-catchers, but there were some big plays made. Andrews’ had that great touchdown snag in tight coverage, and helped convert that big third down, and he also brought in a great catch along his hip on the sideline. Zay Flowers had a big catch-and-run for 22, and then a toe-tap on the sideline for 25, but also had a big block on Hill’s long touchdown run. Tylan Wallace reminded us again that he’s a good player with a 15-yard catch on 1st-and-19 that helped keep the Ravens on schedule. Rashod Bateman drew two straight pass-interference flags, but the second was wiped out when he still managed to bring in a brilliant touchdown catch to give the Ravens a 14-10 lead. Isaiah Likely didn’t make the box score, but he stood out on several nice runs with his blocks.

Offensive Line: B-

This unit continues to find yellow laundry in its wake, but there was some good out there tonight, as well. Daniel Faalele sprung a terrific block on Henry’s 27-yard run, and Roger Rosengarten sealed off a hole for Henry on his 19-yard second-quarter run. Tyler Linderbaum seems to live on the opponents’ second level, but he did pick up a flag late when the Ravens were trying to kill the clock.

[Knee-Jerk Reactions from Ravens at Chargers]

Defense: B

It didn’t look great early, and there were some annoying open spaces at different times of the game (again), but things do look more solid these past two games. The Chargers only had 285 yards of offense, and were 5-14 on third downs. The run defense got better after the first drive, and the Ravens got four sacks.

Defensive Line: B

Travis Jones has that Calais Campbell way about him when he has three tackles in a game, and they were all dominant. He absolutely destroys the best laid plans of rush plays before they ever stand a chance sometimes. Odafe Oweh picked up another sack, as did Josh Tupou. Nnamdi Madubuike was largely quiet, but he did stop a short pass for a gain of 1 with a nice tackle in the second quarter.

Linebackers: B-

Malik Harrison was extremely active during his turn in the spotlight, with 13 tackles, one of them for a loss. However, he also got caught up in blocks on a 17-yard run by JK Dobbins in the first quarter, and whiffed on an open-field tackle in the fourth. There were a few times when he might not have gotten deep enough on his drops, but it’s hard to tell without more knowledge of the play’s responsibilities. Still, he had a big game when called upon to fill a big spot. Chris Board was also good, picking up four tackles. Trenton Simpson connected with a nice shot on Justin Herbert, but he was fairly quiet much of the night.

Defensive Backs: B-

Nate Wiggins had a good game, with two passes defensed, six tackles and some generally sticky coverage. He did get beat on a slant at the end of the first half to set up a Chargers field goal, and he seemed to fly right past Herbert on an unblocked blitz in the third quarter, but it was generally a good outing. Brandon Stephens had a sack and a pass-interference call overturned, and I’m not sure what to do with either of those pieces of information. Marlon Humphrey had a pair of DPIs and another overturned with offsetting penalties, but he also had a great pass breakup in the fourth quarter. Kyle Hamilton blew up a screen to Gus Edwards for a seven-yard loss and seemed to be playing pre-snap, post-snap chess with Herbert much of the night.

Special Teams: C

They allowed two returns tonight — one a kickoff and the other a punt. And guess what? Both were big returns, with a 46-yard kickoff and 19-yard punt return, respectively, by the Chargers specialist, Derius Davis. On the bright side, Justin Tucker kicked the ball solid all night, and drilled his 45-yard field goal. Jordan Stout averaged 54.3 yards on three punts, one of which was a 57-yarder that pinned the Chargers’ returner to the sideline at the 13 yard line.

Coaching: B

This was an aggressive evening, with the Ravens going for it on fourth down three times, one of which was at their own 16 in the first half. For the record, I hated that call at the time, but the Ravens went right down the field and scored a touchdown. Still, I hated it. What I loved was running the ball three times to start the drive after falling behind 10-0, showing there was not going to be any panic on this night, and Zach Orr sending corners on blitzes multiple times to disrupt timing. Things started out shaky, but the Ravens coaches had a plan, they stuck to it and things worked out for a big win. I still hate going for it on their own 16 — even though I do admit it could have been the jolt they needed at that time to turn the game around.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/26/report-card/chargers-v-ravens-report-card/