MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The two biggest takeaways from the Baltimore Ravens’ 30-23 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night:
While John Harbaugh makes a lot of decisions Ravens fans don’t agree with (like going for 2 to extend the lead to 9 instead of 8 in the fourth quarter), when they hit, they tend to hit big …
… And, no surprise here to anyone with eyes, NFL officiating is the pits of the world.
Okay, after falling in a 10-0 hole, the Ravens didn’t panic as they did in Pittsburgh last week, but instead established that voodoo that they do so well, giving the ball to Derrick Henry and Justice Hill for a combined 212 yards rushing.
Lamar Jackson was superb as well, passing for two touchdowns and rushing for one, and the Ravens converted 8 of 15 third-down attempts as well as 3 of 3 fourth-down attempts.
The momentum swing came on one of those fourth-down conversions with the Ravens trailing 10-7 and facing a fourth-and-one from their own 16 just prior to the two-minute warning of the first half. Initially it appeared the Ravens tried to draw the Chargers offside, which they did, but it wasn’t called, which MNF analyst Troy Aikman said on-air.
Coming out of the two-minute warning, which everyone assumed was the prelude to a Ravens punt, Harbaugh said “Go” and the Ravens sent a direct snap to Mark Andrews, who converted the first. Then, just a few plays later, Jackson hit Rashod Bateman for a 40-yard touchdown to complete a 93-yard scoring drive and put Baltimore up 14-10; and though the Chargers made it 14-13 prior to the half, they wouldn’t seriously challenge the Ravens in the second half, as the Baltimore defense played its second good game in a row, even without linebacker Roquan Smith.
Harbaugh had a hot night at the table following his analytics card in the most recent meeting and victory over his brother Jim’s latest team. Again, we often disagree with his decisions, particularly in his clock management and timeout and challenge usage, but on Monday night he gambled and won, which was huge, because had that fourth-and-one failed, the Ravens very easily could have been looking at a two-score deficit at the half.
Instead, Harbaugh believed in his offense and the Ravens led at the half and came away with a very important win with the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles coming to Baltimore on Sunday.
As for the officials’ failure to call offside on the Chargers, it ended up being immaterial, but it was one of many terrible moments for this crew over the course of the evening.
The officials were so bad that they even called out themselves without the help of review (which is actually good officiating), as a pass interference flag on Baltimore near the end zone was picked up, and the Jackson touchdown pass to Andrews, that was initially ruled incomplete by the official who was standing right beside the play, was ruled a touchdown.
The pass interference call was understandable – you see the same stuff on nearly every play, it’s just a matter of their calling it or not calling it. But it’s impossible to even imagine what the ref who initially waved incomplete on the touchdown pass was even seeing because Andrews was clearly in and had possession of the ball. And the official was right beside the play.
Early in the game, the Ravens saw their first drive wiped out by a phantom leg whip call against fullback Patrick Ricard that erased a 17-yard gain. Ricard was nowhere near the defender on the play and, in fact, went to the turf face-down at the defender’s feet.
Don’t misunderstand, the Ravens have earned the distinction of being the most penalized team in the NFL, and that was on display again on Monday when yet another illegal formation penalty wiped out a Henry touchdown (which Jackson got back on the very next play), it’s just that when fans see the outcomes of a $200 billion enterprise be affected and sometimes determined by such inconsistent and seemingly spiteful judgement, it’s not difficult to imagine why more and more fans wonder if what they are seeing is real or contrived.
Perhaps Caesars, FanDuel or DraftKings, official business partners of the NFL, would have a line on that.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT