The Monday Night Football matchup is one for the ages, narratively
Week 12 of the NFL season closes out with a surplus of storylines as the Baltimore Ravens head West to face the Los Angeles Chargers on “Monday Night Football.”
Harbaugh Bowl on Monday Night Football
For a third time, John and Jim Harbaugh will coach against one another in what is being deemed the Harbaugh Bowl – or HarBowl. In 2011, John got the better of his younger brother Jim and the San Francisco 49ers in a 16-6 win on Thanksgiving. Their next meeting was Super Bowl 47; once more, John and the Ravens were victorious, 34-31.
And while HarBowl III’s been all the craze, neither brother is interested in making it about them.
“I don’t want to make it about me,” Jim told NFL.com’s Nick Shook. “It is what it is. Big game, for sure. Two teams having at it.”
“It’s a tough matchup. It’s a very good football team we’re playing this week,” John said on Thursday. “[The Chargers are] highly ranked in pretty much every area. [They’re] a winning football team, very physical, very tough [and an] extremely well-coached football team – no question about it. [Jim Harbaugh] is one of the best coaches of this generation, no question – I believe that. Even if he weren’t my brother, I would say the same thing. We have our work cut out for us; we have to travel across the country and play on Monday Night Football.”
While neither are making it about them, certainly there will be bragging rights with Thanksgiving on Thursday.
The Los Angeles… Ravens?
A couple of Ravens joined the Chargers this offseason after the addition of Jim Harbaugh. Well, more than a couple. A few. Several. Okay, fine, many! There are 16 former Ravens with the Chargers in 2024.
1. RB J.K. Dobbins
2. RB Gus Edwards
3. TE Eric Tomlinson
4. TE Hayden Hurst
5. C Sam Mustipher
6. C Bradley Bozeman
7. S Tony Jefferson
8. General Manager Joe Hortiz
9. Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman
10. Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter
11. Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
12. Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Andy Bischoff
13. Offensive Line Coach Mike Devlin
14. Senior Offensive Assistant Marc Trestman
15. Assistant General Manager Chad Alexander
16. Director of Player Personnel Strategy Corey Krawlec
It’s one thing to have a player or two join a different team you eventually face – as seen with the Ravens facing the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. It’s something else entirely when the opponent’s staff worked were directly involved in the construction of the Ravens’ roster, development and scheme – akin to confidential secrets. So, how will the Ravens approach the exhibition?
“It’s different than other games, sure. Because we know the schemes pretty much, but there will be wrinkles, there will be ideas,” John Harbaugh said. “It’s kind of the old [saying], ‘They know what we know that we know that they know that we know that they know what we know.’ With that, there will be wrinkles, I’m sure. It’s going to come down in the end to the players – just to emphasize that.”
And while the Chargers know the Ravens, so too do the Ravens know them.
“[The offense is] really familiar – [it’s] a lot of different things,” Ravens Defensive Coordinator Zach Orr said. “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’ [Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman was] here.”
The Best Against the Best
The Ravens entered Week 12 as the No. 1 offense by yards (430.1 ypg) and second in scoring, averaging 30.4 points per game. Likewise, the Chargers’ defense is No. 1 in scoring, allowing a stingy 14.5 points per game. It’s a true contest between two of the NFL’s best.
But the rankings and numbers don’t mean much to Ravens Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken when asked about this matchup of the two titans clashing.
“I say this every week, you can’t carry over points, and you can’t carry over yards like in execution,” Monken said. “What’s that got to do with this week? They’re really good, and we’re really good. That’s why we’re where we’re at. We have to execute at a better clip… How do we get our guys really dialed in? OK, that’s every team. The talk around the league, it’s how do they get their guys really dialed in to what we’re looking for, to let their talent to shine, and we’re certainly capable of that. We’re not where we’re at this year without having done that, but to me, that’s the biggest thing is, who’s going to execute play-in and play-out and have it look the way you want it to look, because they’re trying to get us behind the chains, and we’re trying to stay on track. That’s really the nature of the game.”