
In a nationally televised game on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens, led by dynamic quarterback Lamar Jackson, achieved a rare victory over the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10 at SoFi Stadium.
Only four quarterbacks in NFL history have reached 5,000 career rushing yards, including the Louisville product, who finished with 39 rushing yards on 11 carries). He now belongs to the exclusive 5,000-yard club alongside Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, and Michael Vick. Furthermore, with 5,011 rushing yards in just 82 games—22 fewer than Vick required—Jackson is the fastest quarterback to reach the milestone.
At his postgame press conference, the silky-smooth runner was asked about hitting the historic mark, and his response was one word.
With a wry smile, Jackson said, “Cool.”
In addition, the 26-year-old signal-caller completed 18 of 32 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.
Jackson and the Ravens outlasted the inexperienced Chargers by relying on their signature defense and a grind-it-out running game, even though they weren’t playing their best football offensively. As a result, they improved to an AFC-best 9-3 going into Baltimore’s bye week.
The Ravens are currently the top seed in the AFC after winning six of their last seven games. However, Jackson has more ambitious goals for the upcoming season.
“The objective is to make it to the Super Bowl,” Jackson declared. “We’re just going to deal with it week by week. All we can do is that. Being the top seed or anything else of that caliber cannot be a concern for us. The NFL is that. Anything is possible.”
After losing, the Chargers’ season record fell to 4-7, killing off both head coach Brandon Staley’s job and the team’s chances of making the playoffs.
The Chargers were limited to 279 yards overall by the Ravens’ defense, which forced a season-high four turnovers while Los Angeles’ offense appeared disjointed and unprepared. The Chargers had eight turnovers as of the start of Sunday’s game, which was a league-low. For the first time this season, Baltimore held Justin Herbert, the powerful-armed quarterback for Los Angeles, and company under 17 points.
The Ravens, as they have done all season, wreaked havoc up front with blitzes and deceptive pressure. Next Gen Stats indicates that on 41 percent of Herbert’s dropbacks, the Ravens applied pressure. Baltimore finished with three sacks and nine quarterback hits, sending more than four pass rushers in 27.5% of the situations. Herbert completed 4-of-13 for 33 yards during the Ravens’ blitz, with one interception and no touchdowns.
“We had a chance to be this kind of unit, and I’ve been saying that since last summer,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh stated. “And we still have five regular-season games left, along with whatever happens after that, to really decide what our defense’s last few chapters will be. I’m quite pleased with those guys.
The struggles of his defense had put Chargers coach Staley under siege. However, this defeat—the team’s third in a row and fifth in its last seven games—was due entirely to the Bolts offense. And the worst players in Los Angeles were to blame. After consecutive fumbles by Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler in the first half, Herbert ended the half with an interception on a Hail Mary.
Subsequently, at the start of the fourth quarter, Jadeveon Clowney, the edge rusher for the Ravens, recovered a fumble at the Baltimore 24-yard line by stripping Herbert.
“It’s hard to win football games if you turn the ball throughout that many times,” Herbert stated. “As an offensive unit, we must perform better, and as a player, I must safeguard the ball better and not turn it over inadvertently. Winning games like that is really difficult.”
With 2:57 remaining and the Chargers trailing 13-10, Justin Tucker, the normally dependable kicker for the Ravens, missed a 44-yard field goal, setting up a chance for the Bolts to send the game into overtime. But Herbert gave in to pressure up front once more, and on fourth down, L.A.’s drive came to an abrupt stop at Baltimore’s 46-yard line when he was called for intentional grounding.
Khalil Mack, an edge rusher for the Chargers, has been playing well this season. He finished with two sacks and six total tackles. With 13 sacks, the Buffalo product is tied for second place in the league.
Zay Flowers, a rookie wide receiver for Baltimore, had a standout performance. With 1:36 remaining in the game, he scored on a 37-yard touchdown and hauled in a three-yard reception. Flowers’s touchdown celebrations, which included flinging an imaginary bouquet over his head on the first one, earned him some criticism from teammates.
“I informed him that the celebration was the worst I had ever witnessed. However, he scored “Jackson laughed.
In honor of soccer players like Lionel Messi—a favorite of the Baltimore wide receiver in the FIFA video game—Flowers’ second celebration was a penalty kick.
Additionally, some defensive players would have preferred it if Flowers had gone down at the end of the game so the Ravens could run out the clock rather than sprinting into the end zone.
Flowers commented about the second touchdown, saying, “We worked on that, yet nobody told me, so I simply went to the end zone.”