There's no sugarcoating Sunday's offensive performance by the Baltimore Ravens. Yes, the Flock flew to Los Angeles and defeated the Chargers 20-10 on SNF, but the game was won by the defensive unit more than the Todd Monken-led offense.
The Ravens scored 20 points, but 14 of those came on a short-distance TD pass to Zay Flowers and a completely fluky and unexpected 37-yard rushing attempt... by the same (wide receiver) Flowers very deep into the fourth quarter.
The defense, however, couldn't have played much better than they did out West.
For starters, defensive end Justin Madubuike reached 10 sacks on the year and with that he became the first Ravens player to get to double-digit sacks since Terrell Suggs racked up 11 in 2017.
Linebacker Patrick Queen, just to name someone, logged six tackles, three stops, and forced a fumble while also deflecting a pass that fell for an incompletion covering a pass catcher. He also hurried Justin Herbert twice throughout Sunday's outing.
Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, in case he hadn't done enough already under a hella cheap contract, went on to put on another (his nth) show by strip-sacking Herbert late in the game getting to 7.5 sacks over the season.
And safety Kyle Hamilton, simply put, could very well be named MVP of the game after doing a little bit of everything (as if that was surprising at this point...) by completing a couple of tackles for a loss of yardage, defending a pass, logging six total tackles, and applying one pressure to Herbert soon after kick-off forcing an incompletion.
All things considered, the Ravens limited the Chargers to a meager 279 total yards on offense, forced three fumbles (all lost), and intercepted Herbert once (shout-out Arthur Maulet!). The defense forced three first-half turnovers, and through the first two quarters, Herbert could only get 79 passing yards and 12 rushing yards (to go with an eaten sack).
After averaging more than 350 yards on offense per game, and almost 26 points per contest, the Chargers were applied the breaks by Baltimore on Sunday, put to the sword, and pretty much finished in the 2023 year of our Lord while the Ravens are now a near-lock to go places come January.
The best defense in the history of humankind? Maybe not quite there, but surely enough to keep the Flock thriving and all Ravens fans believing.