Los Angeles Chargers vs. Baltimore Ravens: Week 16 preview

Coming off that spectacular 29-28 comeback in Kansas City, the Los Angeles Chargers will have to keep it going against Baltimore this week going against one of the toughest defenses in the league.

With the Chargers sitting at 11-3 and rolling into the last stretch of the season, it’s important to not overlook any team, especially this talented Ravens squad. As we’ve learned, the way the NFL is today, any team can win on any given Sunday.

As we witnessed back in Week 11 against Denver, falling asleep on the defense and allowing Philip Lindsay and the Broncos to stick around ended up in a loss. Considering we’ve struggled a bit this season against the run, we should not forget that in this game is no different and the quarterback might be the biggest threat on the ground.

Lamar Jackson, starting only five games, already has over 560 yards rushing and 800 yards passing. Those may not be mind-boggling stats, but the fact that you have to respect him as a runner just as much as you do a passer adds a ton of pressure to this Chargers defense.

The Chargers held Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to just 65 yards rushing and 243 yards passing, both under their league average. We had two sacks on Mahomes but there were at least three other plays where if Mahomes wasn’t as slippery as he is, we could’ve at least had five sacks.

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I fear that Jackson’s legs will extend a lot of plays for the Ravens so I hope Gus Bradley puts a spy on him throughout the game. Someone like Adrian Philips with enough speed and tackling ability would be perfect at hovering around the box to make sure he doesn’t take off.

However, that means more man coverage for the corners having a player already designated.

The Chargers’ offense the last four weeks aside from the Cincinnati game has had over 350 total yards. We’ll need to keep it balanced this week and start the run game back up which has struggled without Melvin Gordon who’s projected to come back this week according to this Ian Rapoport tweet.

Baltimore’s defense ranks 3rd in both passing yards allowed and rushing yards allowed; not to mention it’s first in total yards allowed. That being said, Philip Rivers and this explosive offense need to come out of the gate fast and score early or else this defense will smother the flames quickly.