The Ravens might have left half of their offense in Baltimore for their Sunday Night Football clash against the Chargers, but the defense surely flew to Los Angeles and put the clamps on a home team that could come up with no answers for a stout defensive unit that helped Baltimore earn a solid 20-10 win.
Baltimore limited the Chargers' offense to just 279 yards on the day, forced and recovered three fumbles, and picked Justin Herbert off once at the end of the first half to put the cherry on top of an impressive collective performance.
Only, there was some individual greatness happening in front of the Los Angeles crowd as Justin Madubuike logged half-a-sack and reached 10 sacks on the year on his way to becoming the first Ravens to reach double-digit sacks in a single season since Terrell Suggs did it in 2017 (he racked up 11 sacks).
With that half-sack, Justin Madubuike now has 10 for the season. The last time Ravens had a double-digit sack player was Terrell Suggs in 2017. pic.twitter.com/WY5lPHSc66
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) November 27, 2023
Baltimore forced three turnovers in the first half, yet the offense could only convert those gainings into one field goal, failing to score in the other two free possessions. Jadeveon Clowney's strip sack in the fourth quarter deep in Baltimore territory proved pivotal, and Kyle Hamilton's all-around game was extraordinary.
However, it was Justin Madubuike who merits special mention after pulling off a feat not done by any Raven in the past five years: reaching double-digit sacks in a season.
That said, not everything is good news when it comes to Beeks. Head coach John Harbaugh revealed some bad news in his post-game presser, confirming that the defensive end had entered the NFL's concussion protocol after leaving the game in the fourth quarter.
Coach Harbaugh says Justin Madubuike will be in the concussion protocol. pic.twitter.com/33CEH6nHvP
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) November 27, 2023
That's not overly worrying (we hope) considering the Ravens are entering their bye week and won't play again until Dec. 10 when they will host the visiting Rams, in a back-to-back Angeleno span of matchups.
Madubuike's 10th sack of the season arrived when he joined forces with fellow defensive tackle Travis Jones to sack Herbert, both earning half a sack on the play. Prior to this season, Madubuike's best sacking year was 2022 but even then he only got to amass 5.5 sacks over 17 games (16 of them started).
Beeks, a former third-round pick by the Ravens, is set to enter free agency next offseason along with defensive stalwarts Patrick Queen and Geno Stone, just to name a couple of pending free agents currently rostered by the Ravens.
It's believed the Ravens will make a push to re-sign Madubuike next offseason by prioritizing inking him to an extension, although there is no real clarity yet about Baltimore's plans for next year and beyond. We, for one, can only hope Beeks keep sacking players while clad in Purple and White threads.