John Harbaugh, Ravens Stay Aggressive to Beat Chargers in Brother Bowl

This hasn’t been a typical season for John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens. They entered Monday night as the NFL’s most penalized team. They’re not very good defensively, and special teams made critical mistakes throughout the season.

But the 2024 Ravens know how to score points in a hurry.

Harbaugh leaned into what he does best to goad his team’s younger brother Jim and the Los Angeles Chargers during the game. Monday Night Football match at SoFi Stadium. There was a lot of excitement in the highly anticipated Brother Bowl, and it looked like we were headed for a wild finish as the Ravens took a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Instead, Justice Hill hit a 51-yard touchdown run with 7:24 left to start the march of Chargers fans toward the exits before the high-scoring Ravens completed the 30-23 victory.

John made it 3-0 against Jim but he has my little brother to thank for raising the level of competition on Monday night. Perhaps the older Harbaugh wouldn’t have been as aggressive if he had faced a different coach. As a reminder, Jim Harbaugh wasn’t willing to hug his own brother after Super Bowl XLVII because he hated losing so much.

There was a brief embrace between the brothers at midfield on Monday night. If the Ravens return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 12 years, John may be looking back at that moment when Jim and the San Francisco 49ers got the best of them. John wanted to beat his little brother so badly that in the process he could find the best way to get Lamar Jackson into the big game.

John won the mental chess match by making fourth-down decisions that didn’t seem too risky with Jackson and Derrick Henry in the backfield, regardless of where the ball was seen. The Ravens (8-4) have been aggressive to fend off a slow start and edge the Chargers (7-4), who showed much improvement in Jim’s first season, but may still be a year away from beating the best teams in the league. Perhaps this realization of knowing they are not yet in the Ravens’ league is why competitive Jim decides to briefly hug his brother after the defeat.

Despite their flaws, the Ravens will be in the Super Bowl because they appear to have the best offense in the AFC. The avalanche in Baltimore was too much to handle even for the Chargers defense, which was allowing 14.5 points per game entering Week 12.

As of now, the Ravens hold the fifth seed and will face the Houston Texans if the playoffs begin this week. Jackson and Henry would likely dominate the inconsistent Texans and not worry about their issues on defense and special teams. But Harbaugh will likely need more aggressive decisions to overcome his flaws against better teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Ravens tested the Chargers’ mental strength to erase a 10-0 halftime deficit. Courageous fourth-and-1 play from Baltimore’s 16-yard line. Initially, the Los Angeles defense was excited to stop the Ravens on third down and not fall for the fake before the two-minute warning, only to be forced to return downfield for Mark Andrews’ direct carry that kept the drive going.

The elder Harbaugh winning the early mind game set the tone for the momentum-changing touchdown 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 bit the tailback Fulton, resulting in defensive pass interference. Fulton had better coverage on the second play, but struggled to keep track of the high dime that Jackson released for Bateman, who showed elite concentration to complete the wild 40-yard field goal that gave Baltimore a 14-10 advantage with 24 seconds left. before halftime.

Maybe this game would have been closer had Chargers running back JK Dobbins not suffered a knee injury in the first half. But John Harbaugh wasn’t going to take any chances against his brother’s team, and Jackson went for the kill, aggressively calling for the 2-point conversion after finding Andrews for a six-yard touchdown with 12:32 left in regulation. The attempt failed and Baltimore was unable to extend the lead to nine points, giving the Chargers another chance to tie the game with a touchdown.

But it didn’t matter because the Chargers defense had no answer to the Ravens’ offense and Justin Herbert didn’t have enough weapons to win a penalty against Jackson & Co. Los Angeles looked hopeless in the final quarter due to John Harbaugh’s aggression. Calls. Just last week, the Chargers kept pace with the Cincinnati Bengals as coach Zac Taylor opted for field goal attempts rather than relying on Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to make plays on fourth down.

John Harbaugh didn’t make the same mistakes with his little brother. The Ravens scored on five consecutive drives to open the game with a 30-16 advantage following Hill’s touchdown run. Baltimore had 212 rushing yards, 140 of which came from Henry. Jackson went 16-of-22 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Herbert and the Chargers’ offense were held to 285 total yards.

Maybe it’s time to give the Ravens’ defense more credit after putting together impressive performances in back-to-back weeks against the Chargers and Steelers. But the quarterback of these offenses is not Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. The Ravens won’t get very far in the postseason without leaning on the offense to keep opposing quarterbacks sidelined for extended periods of time.

Big brother has a little brother to thank for reminding him that it’s okay for him to be aggressive towards Jackson and Henry.