This hasn’t been a typical season for John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens. They entered Monday night as the most penalized team in the NFL. They’re not very good defensively and special teams have made critical mistakes throughout the season.
But the 2024 Ravens know how to score points in a hurry.
Harbaugh leaned on what his team does best to agitate his younger brother, Jim, and his Los Angeles Chargers during the Monday Night Football matchup at SoFi Stadium. The highly anticipated Brother Bowl had plenty of hype and it seemed we were headed for a wild finish with the Ravens clinging to a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Instead, Justice Hill ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run with 7:24 remaining to start the wave of Chargers fans heading for the exits before the high-scoring Ravens completed the 30–23 victory.
John improved to a 3–0 against Jim, but he should thank little bro for increasing the competition level Monday night. Perhaps the older Harbaugh wouldn’t have been as aggressive had he been facing a different coach. As a reminder, Jim Harbaugh was not willing to hug his own brother after Super Bowl XLVII because he hates losing that much.
There was a brief hug at midfield between the brothers on Monday night. John might be looking back at that moment if the Ravens return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 12 years when they got the best of Jim and his San Francisco 49ers. John wanted to beat little bro so badly that in the process he might have figured the best path to finally getting Lamar Jackson to the big game.
John won the mental chess match by making fourth-down decisions that don’t seem so risky when Jackson and Derrick Henry are in the backfield, regardless of where the ball is spotted. The Ravens (8–4) got aggressive to brush off a slow start and outmuscle the Chargers (7–4), who are much improved in Jim’s first season, but might still be a year away from beating the best teams in the league. Maybe that realization of knowing they’re not in the Ravens’ class yet is why the competitive Jim decided to briefly hug his brother following the loss.
Despite their flaws, the Ravens will be in the mix for a Super Bowl because they appear to have the best offense in the AFC. The Baltimore avalanche was too much to overcome, even for a Chargers defense that was allowing 14.5 points per game heading into Week 12.
As of now, the Ravens control the fifth seed and would face the Houston Texans if the playoffs were to start this week. Jackson and Henry would probably dominate the inconsistent Texans and not worry about their issues on defense and special teams. But Harbaugh would likely need more aggressive decisions to overcome their flaws against the better teams, such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Ravens tested the Chargers’ mental strength to erase a 10–0 deficit in the first half, starting with a gutsy fourth-and-1 play from Baltimore’s 16-yard line. Initially, the L.A. defense was amped about stopping the Ravens on third down and not falling for the fake snap before the two-minute warning only to have to return to the field for a Mark Andrews direct snap that kept the drive going.
The older Harbaugh winning an early mind game set the tone for the momentum-changing touchdown drive just before halftime. Jackson followed his coach’s lead by attacking Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton on back-to-back plays while Fulton defended wide receiver Rashod Bateman near the left sideline. On the first play, Jackson got the trailing Fulton to bite, drawing a defensive pass interference. Fulton had better coverage on the latter play, but he struggled to track the high-arching dime that Jackson unleashed for Bateman, who displayed elite concentration to complete the wild 40-yard touchdown pass that gave Baltimore a 14–10 advantage with 24 seconds left before halftime.
Maybe this game would have been closer at the end if Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins didn’t sustain a knee injury in the first half. But John Harbaugh wasn’t going to take any chances against his brother’s team and went for the kill when he aggressively called for a 2-point conversion after Jackson found Andrews for a six-yard touchdown pass with 12:32 left in regulation. The attempt failed and Baltimore couldn’t extend the lead to nine points, giving the Chargers another crack to tie the game with a touchdown.
But it didn’t matter because the Chargers defense had no answers for the Ravens’ offense, and Justin Herbert didn’t have enough weapons to win a shootout against Jackson & Co. Los Angeles appeared hopeless in the final quarter because of John Harbaugh’s aggressive calls. Just last week, the Chargers kept pace with the Cincinnati Bengals because coach Zac Taylor settled for field goal attempts instead of trusting Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to make plays on fourth down.
John Harbaugh didn’t make the same mistakes against his younger brother. The Ravens scored on five consecutive drives to break the game open with a 30–16 advantage after Hill’s touchdown scamper. Baltimore had 212 rushing yards, with 140 coming from Henry. Jackson went 16-of-22 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Herbert and his Chargers’ offense were held to 285 total yards.
Perhaps it’s time to give the Ravens’ defense more credit after putting up impressive performances in back-to-back weeks against the Chargers and Steelers. Then again, those offenses aren’t quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. The Ravens won’t get far in the postseason without leaning on the offense to keep opposing quarterbacks on the sideline for long stretches.
Big bro has little bro to thank for reminding him it’s O.K. to get aggressive with Jackson and Henry.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as John Harbaugh, Ravens Stay Aggressive to Beat Chargers in Brother Bowl.
