On Saturday Night, the Baltimore Ravens played the L.A. Chargers in Los Angeles. The game was supposed to be a tightly contested game between two teams vying for higher playoff seeding. The Ravens had added pressure as the Titans had won earlier in the day, so a loss would all but eliminate them.
The game definitely did not follow as scripted. The Ravens dominated from the very start. It started with an interception thrown by Brandon Carr. Afterwards the Ravens had a 45-yard rush. Despite only kicking a field goal that drive, the message was clear. The Ravens were no joke. Behind an unbelievable rushing attack led by Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards, the Ravens won the time of possession battle by over 10 minutes.
Somehow, the Ravens rushing attack was not its biggest strength. The Ravens defense is ranked #1 in the NFL. They limited the Chargers, who had won 10 of their last 11, including four straight, to 10 points. MVP candidate Phillip Rivers had 181 passing yards and 2 interceptions. They held Melvin Gordon to 41 rushing yards. On seemingly every single play, the Ravens got a hit on Rivers. In fact, they had 4 sacks and 8 QB Hits.
The Ravens are cruising right now, and have shown they can compete with top-caliber teams. They lost to the Saints on a missed extra point and took the Chiefs to overtime. At the rate they are going at, Baltimore will get the 4th seed in the conference as the Steelers play the Saints in New Orleans today. If they get the 4 spot, they will play the Chargers in LA once again. Even if the Steelers win, the Ravens will still probably get the 6th seed. Whoever gets the 3rd seed will have to play a team playing old-school, ground and pound football in a pass-happy league.
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