Familiarity and family ties aside; Ravens are expecting new ‘wrinkles’ from Chargers

Even though the two teams are a “mirror image” of each other in many ways, there are some subtle differences.

On paper, the Baltimore Ravens should have a clear advantage heading into their Week 12 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers. There are so many ties between the two teams from the players on the roster to the coaching staff and front-office personnel.

This past offseason, 16 former Ravens followed Jim Harbaugh—younger brother of head coach John Harbaugh and former Ravens quarterback in 1998—to the West Coast. The long list includes both offensive and defensive coordinators, general manager Joe Ortiz and several starters and key rotational players on offense.

Naturally, a lot of carry-over was to be expected in how they conduct themselves, construct a team and structure schemes on both sides of the ball. Some fans, pundits and even current Ravens players have jokingly referred to them as the L.A. or Los Angeles Ravens or the West Coast Ravens.

“The culture, the way things are done, how [the Chargers] play, the schemes [are] very similar,” head coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “The schemes are, in a lot of ways not exactly the same, but in a lot of ways mirror images – the people coaching [and] a lot of the guys playing. But with that, it’s two different football teams. It’s two teams squaring off in a really important game, and that’s what it’s really going to be about.”

Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman called plays in Baltimore for the first four and a half years of Lamar Jackson’s career including his unanimous MVP-winning season. A staple in his run-centric scheme was heavy personnel utilizing multiple tight ends and a converted defensive lineman at fullback.

“They’re playing with the big fullbacks and big tight ends, and it’s hard-nosed football,” safety Kyle Hamilton said. You know where the ball’s going, [and] you know what’s going to happen – it’s just, can you stop it or not.”

The Chargers have former Ravens tight ends Hayden Hurst and Eric Tomlinson and their version of four-time Pro Bowl fullback Patrick Ricard is second-year defensive tackle Scott Matlock who has played 214 snaps on offense, 85 snaps on defense and 143 on special teams.

“There’s some beauty in that. There’s some ugliness in that, too – just the way that the game’s played, but we’re all tough guys,” Hamilton said. “I think there are some similarities there that we’re cognizant of, but at the end of the day, I’m sure he’s going to have some wrinkles to keep us on our toes.”

Leading Los Angeles’ rushing attack is a pair of former backfield members of Baltimore’s backfield, running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, who began their careers in Charm City. Dobbins leads the team in rushing by a wide margin and is on pace for the first 1,000-plus-yard and double-digit scoring season of his career with 726 yards, eight touchdowns and an average of 4.8 yards per carry.

“It’s really familiar – [it’s] a lot of different things,” defensive coordinator Zach Orr said Friday. “You can tell that he’s added a couple of wrinkles here and there, but for the most part, the offense is really familiar to what we’ve seen [to when] ‘G-Ro’ here.”

Even though the Ravens are very familiar with Roman’s scheme and play-calling tendencies, and Chargers first-year defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has been in the Harbaugh coaching tree since getting his start in Baltimore from 2017-20, they will expect the unexpected.

“There will be ideas,” Harbaugh said. “It’s going to come down in the end to the players.”