Chargers Defense survive late scare in dominating Wild Card performance

The Chargers seemed to have figured out the Ravens for about 50 of the 60 minutes of football played last Sunday but held on for dear life for the final ten minutes.

Los Angeles was able to come away with a 23-17 victory and a meeting with the defending AFC Champions, New England Patriots, next week in the Divisional Round.

After getting a second look and two weeks to plan for the Ravens offense, Gus Bradley’s defense smothered Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.  Los Angeles held the Ravens offense to just 69 (only 11 passing yards) first half yards, two turnovers and no plays in their half.

The Chargers defense adjusted their defense significantly to counteract the running ability of Jackson by employing defensive back heavy formations to counteract the QB’s speed.  Defensive coordinator Bradley used Pro Bowl safety Derwin James as a defensive spy on the Ravens Quarterback, having him play in the space behind the defensive line. The extra speed of having so many defensive backs mitigated some of the advantages that Jackson had a few weeks ago against slower linebackers. While this strategy did risk being vulnerable against the Ravens stout running backs, it proved successful in significantly stymieing Baltimore’s offense.

The Chargers offense didn’t fare much better but seemed to benefit from the great field position that Baltimore’s ineptitude on offense provided them.

The key offensive man for the Bolts was their rookie kicker, Michael Badgley, who provided most of Los Angeles’ scoring with five field goals. Melvin Gordon provided a fourth quarter touchdown to put the game out of reach but he was mostly subdued, with only 40 yards rushing on the day. Philip Rivers had 160 yards through the air and no touchdowns.

As the Chargers took a late lead of 23-3 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it looked like the game was completely in Los Angeles control.  John Harbaugh’s squad up to that point had only 83 total yards and three first downs. It was then that Lamar Jackson caught fire. With two furious late scoring drives, both culminating in Michael Crabtree touchdowns, the Ravens were able to pull within six points.

As Baltimore took the field down by six points, with a chance to lead a drive wit 45 seconds left on the clock, the game slipped through the Ravens fingers, as the Chargers forced and recovered a fumble to finish out the game.