The Baltimore Ravens faced a tough matchup this week against the Los Angeles Chargers, who currently sit at first place in the AFC West. This matchup was projected to be a high scoring game with both teams being 4-1 and coming off of high scoring narrow victories last week. For the Chargers, it was a good game to prove they can contend with an already established team in Baltimore. And for the Ravens, they wanted to keep their win streak alive, as well as contain Los Angeles’s high-powered offense. 

The Chargers’ offense is led by the young elite quarterback, Justin Herbert, but the Raven’s defense shut him down early in the game. Both teams remained scoreless until around the eight and a half-minute mark of the first quarter, where Devonta Freeman rushed into Charger territory. This led to a Devin Duvernay run for about 15 yards and a Latavius Murray run right after for a 14-yard touchdown. 

After the Ravens scored, their defense was tested yet again and, on a 3^rd and short situation, Herbert was sacked by safety DeShon Elliott. This put all the pressure on the Chargers defense, allowing Lamar Jackson to find Mark Andrews for multiple 15 plus-yard plays. Then Jackson ran it himself, found Mark again, and handed it off to Le’Veon Bell, who scored his first touchdown of the season. Right afterward, the Chargers got the ball back but get stopped at the 39-yard line; they decided to go for it on 4^th down. They were unsuccessful, as a charged-up Marlon Humphrey broke up the play. 

Baltimore drove down the field but were forced to kick a field goal from 52-yards—an easy kick for Justin Tucker. With four minutes and forty seconds left in the second quarter, Herbert forced a long, contested throw that was picked off by Elliott for his first of the season. The very next play was Lamar’s turn to throw a pick, and he did just that, leading to a 1-yard touchdown catch made by tight end Jared Cook and a wildly missed extra point. These were the Chargers’ only points of the game, as they would not score for the rest of the second half. 

The opposite could be said for the Ravens, as at around the seven minute and forty-five second mark in the third quarter Lamar found Mark Andrews for a 9-yard touchdown. Two minutes later, Justin Tucker hit a 47-yard field goal, and as the fourth quarter started, Freeman rushed for 9 yards for 6 points.  

The Ravens exhaled as the game ended knowing that they exceeded their expectations and proved any doubters wrong. My takeaway from the game was that Baltimore’s offense proved to be stellar even with rotating running backs, as well as the fact that their defense has drastically improved, at least for this week, as they held one of the league’s highest powered offensive teams to just three points.

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