Older siblings everywhere could appreciate John Harbaugh's refusal to concede an inch against his younger brother Jim.
Even when his Baltimore Ravens faced fourth down at their 16-yard line in the second quarter, John wasn't giving up the ball without a fight.
The Ravens converted that fourth down and two others on their way to a 30-23 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, giving their coach a third victory in three matchups against his brother. It was the first time they'd faced off since Baltimore beat San Francisco — then coached by Jim Harbaugh — in the Super Bowl at the end of the 2012 season.
“We grew up in the same room and have always lived our life side by side, but that’s not what the game is about,” John Harbaugh said. “The game really is about the players, and the players are always going to win the game or lose the game or whatever.”
On this night, it was Baltimore's players who shined. Specifically Derrick Henry, who rushed for 140 yards. Lamar Jackson threw a couple of touchdown passes, and the defense was solid, allowing touchdowns on the first and last Los Angeles drives but not much in between.
“I’m proud of our guys,” John Harbaugh said. “I’m proud of the way they came out and responded after the first 10 points — we were down 10-0, and our guys stepped up.”
After converting fourth-and-1 at their 16 late in the second quarter, the Ravens scored on a 40-yard pass from Jackson to Rashod Bateman, taking the lead for good at 14-10.
Baltimore's other two fourth-and-1 conversions came on a 14-play touchdown drive that spanned the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth.
“We’re just confident that we’ll end up converting on those fourth downs, and we did a great job blocking,” said Henry, who converted the last two of the fourth downs. "All we had to do was make a play, and we did.”
The Ravens got back to their identity a bit, rushing for 212 yards. And it wasn't just Henry and Jackson contributing. Justice Hill broke free for a 51-yard touchdown that made it 30-16 in the fourth.
“Nobody wants to stand in front of (Derrick Henry) every single play, every single run,” Hill said. "You can do it one time, two times, three times, but when you have to do it 20 to 25 times, it starts to wear down. I’m glad we stuck with the run game this game, and it played out for us.”
There were still too many penalties, with the Ravens flagged nine times for 102 yards. Baltimore played a pretty clean game until the fourth quarter, so several of those flags came after the Ravens had the game reasonably under control, but this is still an area of concern.
With star linebacker Roquan Smith out because of a hamstring injury, Malik Harrison led the Ravens with a dozen tackles.
“It’s a lot of people that doubted me coming into this game, so I’m happy I was able to ball out and show them that I can be in this league, and I can play at a high level,” Harrison said.
There was a time when Isaiah Likely seemed as if he might be supplanting Mark Andrews as Baltimore's top tight end threat, but Likely went without a catch Monday.
He did, however, recover the onside kick that effectively ended the game.
Although Smith was out, DT Travis Jones (ankle) and C Tyler Linderbaum (back) were able to start.
Jackson has now thrown 22 touchdown passes with no interceptions on Monday nights, with a passer rating of 124.3.
The Ravens have one more game before their open date, and it's a showdown this weekend against a Philadelphia team that has won seven in a row. Saquon Barkley (1,392) of the Eagles and Henry (1,325) have both surpassed 1,300 yards rushing already. Nobody else in the NFL has more than 1,000.
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