A Devastating Loss for Ravens Fans

Nathan Terry, III, Staff Writer

Ravens fans around the region sat in disbelief  after their devastating loss to the L.A Chargers, a team they beat  two weeks prior, in the AFC Wild Card game on Sunday, January 6th.

In this match up,  the Ravens held the Chargers’ explosive duo, Phillip Rivers and  Keenan Allen in check with Rivers only passing for 160 yards for the game, which was a huge drop off for a quarterback who was averaging over 269 yards a game.

The first drive for the Ravens was a punt, giving the chargers the ball. Rivers then led  them down the field to get 3 points. The second drive for the Ravens was a disaster as one play resulted in a 14 yard loss and another in a fumble that the  Chargers recovered and turned into 3 points.

In the second quarter things were just as slow with the Chargers punting and Lamar Jackson throwing an interception to end the ravens 4 play drive. The Chargers got the ball back in great field position and got 3 points as the quarter came to an end and halftime beckoned. Things got a little ugly as fans started to lose their edge for the home team and some boos rang down on them.

At halftime the score stood  Chargers 12, Ravens 0.

To start the second half, the Chargers, on their opening drive of the quarter, had a field goal blocked to keep the Ravens close. This was followed by a Ravens punt and then on the next possession, the Chargers fumbled. This led to a Ravens opportunity and they cashed in on a Justin Tucker field goal to make it 12-3. The Ravens continued to play hard on defense and blocked a punt, but could not convert the field goal to leave it at 12-3 to end the quarter.

As the fourth quarter began, the Ravens would not quit but they had to contend with the Chargers scoring the first touchdown of the game as Melvin Gordon took it into the end zone on fourth down. The two point conversion was good and it was looking bad for the Ravens at 20-3.

The Chargers would not let up and put another three on the board to up the lead to 23-3. However, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens would not quit as he led the Ravens down the field and completed a touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree and it was 23-10. The Chargers could not finish it and had to punt, which gave the Ravens one more shot to close the gap. Jackson again hit Crabtree for the score to make it 23-17 with little time left. The Chargers could not get a first down and punted again. There would be no magic ending for the Ravens however, as Jackson had the ball knocked from his hand as the final seconds ticked off and the score finished at Chargers 23, Ravens 17.