“The league has an appeal process to review situations like this, and Ed had his opportunity to answer questions about his play,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said in a statement. “I think John (Harbaugh) and his coaches do an excellent job of teaching the right, safe and legal way to play football, and we believe Ed clearly tries to play within the rules on every down.”
Harbaugh laid out the team’s position on the penalty, which they felt to be punitive and excessive. “None of those hits were [intentional]. They were all inadvertent,” the head coach said. “None of those were with intent to injure or to harm in any way. When you look at the hits, that’s pretty obvious. We all know Ed. Ed respects the game. He respects his fellow players. I saw after the New England one, where he and [Deion] Branch … They knew right away, and they were hugging each other. They knew right away what it was about. He’s a good person, and he’s got a good heart. He’s got tremendous respect for the game, and we stand behind him in that respect and as a team and as an organization.”
It was a pre-Thanksgiving reprieve that Reed and the Ravens were very thankful for because the defense was going to need No. 20 on the field against Philip Rivers in San Diego.
Thanksgiving is a special time for many players on the Ravens, who value family, but even more so for the myriad of players who struggled financially as children. Many players were so poor as kids that they have not-so-fond memories of eating holiday meals at shelters. Thanksgiving meant something to a lot of the players, especially given their religious affiliation and the inherent charity aspect that flowed from Ray Lewis, who had provided turkeys and meals for families since 1996. A year earlier, the Ravens played the San Francisco 49ers on Thanksgiving night with the entire world watching the first-ever matchup of The Brothers Harbaugh in what became known as the “HarBrawl” or the “Har-Bowl.” It made for fantastic holiday evening theater given their father’s background in the Midwest as a lifer football coach.
This year, Thanksgiving was simply a regular Thursday workday for the Ravens awaiting an early Black Friday afternoon escape to the West Coast, taking the traditional extra day to fly into San Diego and get acclimated to the time change. It’s always a lovely trip for the fans, and the Ravens seem to make it frequently because in recent years both Baltimore and San Diego have been strong, playoff-caliber teams. That’s the NFL – it’s designed for the best teams to play the best teams in the scheduling grid each year so this was the third time in four years travelling fans experienced the joy of a San Diego visit.
Although he would be a cheerleader at the former Jack Murphy Stadium this time around, Ray Lewis made perhaps the most memorable play of his memorable career in 2009, when he stuffed Darren Sproles on a 4th & 1 to win a game. In December 2011, the Ravens laid a colossal egg on a nationally televised game when Philip Rivers diced up the defense, and the offense stunk in a humbling 34-14 loss that resembled the aroma of the 2012 loss in Houston just a month earlier. As nice as the weather is, and despite how pretty the girls are in Southern California, it’s a long flight home when you lose.
Rivers had endured plenty of frustration in his career in San Diego. He had four more years in the league than Flacco, arriving in 2004 from North Carolina State with high expectations after supplanting Drew Brees in then-Cam Cameron’s offense as the No. 4 overall pick. Rivers was the consolation prize in a year when Eli Manning refused to go to San Diego to play, forcing a trade out of the No. 1 pick. Meanwhile Chargers head coach Norv Turner was dangling, clinging to his job security yet again in his sixth season. The San Diego fan base was once again frustrated with the dalliances with playoff teams that never seem to be good enough to win at in January. Rivers led the Chargers to the NFL postseason five times in eight years, losing in the AFC Championship Game in 2008 in New England.
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But this time for the Chargers, this game was a knockout game in November. With a 4-6 record, a loss to Ravens would all but end their comeback spirit for a playoff berth with a seventh loss. Harbaugh expected to get the Chargers best effort with their backs against the wall.
The Chargers got on the board early in the second quarter when Rivers led a nine play, 78-yard drive capped by a touchdown strike to Malcom Floyd and Nick Novak hit a 47-yard field goal to give San Diego a 10-0 lead at the half.
The Ravens offense was once again impotent in the first half on the road, featuring six Sam Koch punts and no points. It was 90 minutes of continuing road frustration and it was all-too-familiar for Flacco and the offense, sitting under the bowels of this old stadium plotting how to get a few first downs in the second half.
