The No. 1 offense in the NFL collides with the league’s top scoring defense as the Harbaugh brothers do battle in primetime.
Straight off their dramatic win over the Bengals at home on Sunday Night Football, the Chargers are right back in primetime (and also at home) to host the other Harbaugh brother and the 7-4 Ravens.
Lamar Jackson is once again playing at an MVP level and so is his new teammate and workhorse running back, Derrick Henry. On the other side, Justin Herbert is also playing like an MVP for the Chargers despite the overall numbers not necessarily jumping off out of the box score. As for running back J.K. Dobbins, he’s squarely in the discussion for Comeback Player of the Year after finding a resurgence in Los Angeles.
When it comes down to it, the Ravens offense vs. the Chargers defense will be the headliner in this one. Strength vs. Strength. Two heavyweights duking it out under the bright lights.
What else can you really ask for?
Without further ado, here are the three storylines I’ll be following closely when these two teams take the field Monday night.
1.) Will Greg Roman waver from his run-first approach against the Ravens 32nd-ranked pass defense?
The Ravens defense is not what it was under former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald a season ago. They’re still a stout unit against the run (2nd in the league), but they currently rank dead last in passing yards allowed with 284.5 per game.
It should come as no surprise that the offense seems to move at a much more efficient clip when it runs through Justin Herbert’s arm (and legs, as of late). Similar to the game against the Bengals, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman are going to want to play keep away from the Ravens, but Baltimore only allows an average of 77.5 rushing yards per game.
I hate to say it, but we may be in store for another high-scoring affair that will come down to which of these two quarterbacks ends up with the ball in their hands at the end of the game.
2.) Ravens offensive line is exploitable if Chargers can find a way to get home on Lamar Jackson
The Ravens have the league’s top passing offense, but a lot of their success has been buoyed by the physical capabilities of Lamar Jackson. Through Week 11, the offensive tackles for the Ravens have each allowed at least 20 pressures this season with left tackle Ronnie Stanley also being called for 11 penalties. However, Stanley has still given up zero sacks while rookie right tackle Roger Rosengarten has given up three on the year.
Offensive guards Daniel Falele and Patrick Mekari have also given up 20 and 15 pressures this season, respectively. Mekari also leads the team with 12 penalties. Basically, outside of center Tyler Linderbaum, this group is very much exploitable to a good pass rush but Jackson’s ability to keep pressures from turning into sacks has helped polish their stats to be prettier than they would be if there was most other NFL quarterbacks behind them.
If Khalil Mack returns from his groin injury this week, I really like the Chargers pass rush to create a ton of havoc this week. They may not end up getting Jackson on the ground during the initial rush, but consistently forcing him off his platform is still a great place to start.
3.) How will J.K. Dobbins fare against his former team?
This one is a layup as we all love a good revenge game (not that there is any bad blood between the two sides) and as much as Dobbins’ success has brought the Chargers fan base joy this season, it’d jump to a whole new level to see him ball out against the team that drafted him back in 2020.
Dobbins only needs 80 yards to surpass his career-high 806 yards from his rookie season. Wouldn’t it be absolutely insane to see him cross that threshold against the Ravens? In primetime? Yes. Yes it would.
Overall, the Chargers rushing attack has been better as of late. With the help of Justin Herbert getting in on the action thanks to some recent big-time scrambles, the Bolts rushing attack is now ranked 12th in the NFL entering Week 12 (121.6).
If Roman really wants to solidify his stripes as a mad scientist in the run game, he can do just that by putting his team in the best position possible to impose their will on the same team he used to help spur on to victory just a handful of years ago.