Baltimore Ravens vs San Diego Chargers: Game Preview
The 7-4 Baltimore Ravens will host the 7-4 San Diego Chargers on Sunday in a matchup that will be vital to the AFC wild card race. Both the fifth and sixth seeds in the AFC hold records of 7-4, so with the Ravens and Chargers lagging just behind, they will not want to lose ground on anyone.
This will also be big in determining who grabs the head-to-head tiebreaker between these two teams. You never know; maybe there will only be one spot remaining at the end of the season, these two teams will be tied in the standings for that final spot, and the tiebreaker will determine who makes the playoffs.
This looks like it should be a pretty good matchup, though. Philip Rivers has had a pretty good year here in 2014. He is 11th in the league throwing for 2,835 yards, 7th in the league with 22 touchdowns through the air, and has thrown nine interceptions.
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Ravens fans should be concerned about him going up against their 29th-ranked passing defense . However, that’s what we said last week as well against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, and look at the outcome of that game.
The Chargers’ defense however, is not the same as New Orleans’ unit. The Saints defense ranks 27th overall in the league, while the Chargers are ranked ninth. They have allowed just 2,434 yards through the air this season, which ranks sixth in the league. Although they don’t have any real stars on defense, they put 11 solid players out there on the field every week. Not a lot of teams can say that they do that.
Joe Flacco, who is 13th in the league in passing yards, will be facing his toughest challenge yet in Week 13. But as long as Flacco has time to throw, he can sling it on any defense. That’s why the offensive line holds so much importance in this game.
If they can protect Flacco and create holes for running back Justin Forsett to exploit, then the Ravens will have a great shot in this one. If they fail to do those things, then the Ravens will probably find themselves with a record of 7-5 after Week 13.