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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Ravens’ defensive line has a new name after its victorious performance against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
“We’re the fumble recovery boys!” defensive tackle Michael Pierce exclaimed to a burst of laughter from teammates. “We’re no longer the ‘fumbutts.’”
He, along with one of his best friends, defensive end Brent Urban, and outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, recovered three of the Ravens’ forced fumbles. In the Ravens’ lowest-scoring game since they lost 17-10 to the Pittsburgh Steelers seven weeks ago, the offense was incredibly grateful for those three gifts the defense bestowed in a game that was tight until the final minutes.
“Our defense is sweet,” wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said. “Since I got here, I looked at this defense and I was like, shit, I gotta go against this every single day. So I know what other teams have to face. ... We needed them to handle that for us tonight, and they did that.”
At the start of the game, it looked as if the defense might have another tired performance like its leaky game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Led by quarterback Justin Herbert, the Chargers marched down the field, helped by a 31-yard pass to a wide-open Gerald Everett. They made it to the Baltimore 21 before the Ravens held the Chargers to a field goal.
Then the offense took the field and the defensive players headed to the bench. As they sat side by side, Pierce said, they calmed down, reset and got back to who they are. And who they are, in their minds, is the best defense in the league.
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The next seven Chargers drives went like this: punt, punt, fumble, fumble, interception, punt, fumble.
The fumbles, in particular, came at opportune times.
Urban was the first to fall on a loose ball. After linebacker Roquan Smith and Clowney converged on Herbert and knocked the ball free, Urban followed in their footsteps and recovered it. It was Urban’s first fumble recovery, something his buddies Pierce and left tackle Morgan Moses delighted in seeing, especially because Moses said he had a lot of his family in the stands.
“It was dope to see him do that,” Pierce said.
The recovery came two plays after the Ravens failed to convert on fourth-and-1 and turned the ball over on downs. Urban recovered the ball at the Chargers’ 34, only 7 yards back from where the Ravens’ offense had stalled. The Ravens scored a field goal on the ensuing drive.
Linebacker Patrick Queen forced the next fumble, which Pierce scooped up. Although the Ravens turned the ball right back over on downs, the defense’s forced fumble stalled a 22-yard drive, the longest since the Chargers’ opening series. The Chargers could not build any momentum heading into the half.
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“It was pretty crazy for us to come down on similar plays of fumble recoveries,” Urban said. “It was great that it happened that way. It’s one of my good friends on the team.”
The forced fumbles from Smith and Queen marked a return to the violence they’re known for following one of their worst performances of the year against the Bengals. Both looked worn down, and the middle of the defense looked uncharacteristically weak. Against the Chargers, they finished as the leading tacklers and contributed all over the field.
However, it was Clowney’s strip-sack and subsequent recovery that truly saved the day. It was one of those plays “you dream about” making, Queen said.
The Chargers were threatening, only 12 yards from the end zone, seemingly unstoppable on their best drive of the game. They ran 19 plays, including a successful trick play, to gain 71 yards. Then Clowney snuffed it all out and turned the Ravens’ worst defensive series into one of the most critical.
“At that point, we were just trying to prevent them from scoring a touchdown,” Pierce said. “I told him on the sidelines, I was like, ‘Bro, you really saved us.’”
While the fumbles were the highlights, everyone on the defensive line walked away with “their own play,” Pierce said, including some major milestones. Justin Madubuike’s shared sack pushed him to 10 this season, a first in the Ravens’ history since Terrell Suggs. Broderick Washington had his second sack of the season, making this the first season he’s had multiple sacks. Kyle Van Noy had a big pass deflection.
They walked away with such a performance thanks to the players behind them who, for the most part, locked down a productive Chargers offense. The Chargers finished with their third-worst passing performance of the season in terms of yardage.
Wide receiver Keenan Allen had 14 catches for 106 yards and Herbert threw for 217, but the Ravens held them to 279 yards. The Chargers have finished with fewer only twice this season, and they had 394 yards and 421 yards in their last two games. Herbert averaged minus-0.22 expected points added per offensive play, according to TruMedia, the 57th-best start of his 60 games with at least 15 pass attempts.
“We feel like, if we give those guys time to get back there [to the quarterback], they’re going to get back there,” Queen said. “I’m definitely proud of them. I love those guys upfront. We know what they can do. We just have to handle our business on the back end.”
The Ravens’ offense also had a less productive game than usual, but the defense made sure that what the offense did was enough. They’re playing “lights out,” Moses said, and the offense needs to make sure it plays “complementary football.” But getting to watch the defense show out like that?
“It was truly special,” Beckham said.
giana.han@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Giana Han is a Ravens beat reporter from Howard County.
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