Roquan Smith stood on the Ravens sideline as the Chargers picked apart Baltimore's defense on their opening drive.
Los Angeles went 70 yards on nine plays and didn't even face a third down, taking a 7-0 lead on "Monday Night Football."
The Ravens had just gone an entire game without giving up a touchdown, but the Chargers' first possession looked a lot like the Baltimore defense that had struggled for most of the season.
But even with Smith in street clothes due to a hamstring injury, the Ravens defense bounced back in a big way. Baltimore went on to keep the Chargers out of the end zone until there was less than a minute remaining with the game basically in hand.
The 30-23 Baltimore win at SoFi Stadium showed the Ravens defense is truly moving in the right direction, and it did so without its leader.
"Hats off, big time, to the defense, and 'Ro' wasn't there," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "Some people would say he's the heart and soul. ... He's the middle of the defense, for sure, but I was very confident that these guys would step up."
After the opening touchdown, the Ravens defense forced three field goal attempts – two from more than 50 yards – and four punts before the late touchdown. Since Los Angeles' Week 5 bye, when quarterback Justin Herbert got healthy again, the Chargers had topped 300 total yards in every game, but the Ravens held them to 285 on Monday night.
Herbert had a season-low 75.9 passer rating and didn't throw a touchdown pass for the second time this season. He faced pressure on 34.1% of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats, and was sacked four times.
It was another strong performance for Baltimore after holding the Steelers to just 18 points on six field goals last week.
"I'm proud of the way [the team] came out and responded after the first 10 points," Harbaugh said. "... That's what I appreciate about our guys; they really don't flinch, they keep fighting, they got locked in on some details, and they played good winning football, so I'm proud of them for that."
The Ravens had a committee approach to replace Smith, but Malik Harrison took the brunt of the role and ran with it. The fifth-year Raven had a career-high 12 tackles, including one for loss.
The only linebacker in the NFL with more tackles in Week 12 than Harrison was the Colts' Zaire Franklin (13), who leads the league in total tackles. Safety Kyle Hamilton said he could hear Harrison's hits from 20 yards away.
"He was bringing it the whole game," Hamilton said. "We all know that's 'Leek.' He's a helluva football player and I'm just glad he got a shot today."
Harbaugh gave Harrison a game ball after the win.
"The thing I appreciate about Malik is he's a really even-keeled guy, but he's a confident person," Harbaugh said. "They go down there the first drive, and we're trying to figure out what's going on and how we're going to play these different things, and [we] talked through it, and he didn't flinch for one second. He just stepped up and stepped into those run plays and made a bunch of tackles. I couldn't be more proud of him. I think he in a lot of ways epitomizes a victory tonight."
Harrison's playing time this season has been up and down. He stepped in to play 37 defensive snaps last week against the Steelers with Smith missing most of the fourth quarter, but he played just four in Week 11 against the Bengals. Even when called upon, his duties can range from rushing to passer to playing off the ball.
But Harrison has learned to stay ready, and it = paid off in primetime.
"It feels good," Harrison said. "[There were] a lot of people that doubted me coming into this game, so I'm happy I was able to ball out and show them that I can be in this league, and I can play at a high level."
The Ravens looked like they solved most of their defensive issues in Week 4, holding the high-powered Bills offense to just 10 points, but they gave up 35 points and got torched by Joe Burrow the next week.
Coming into Monday's game, All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton talked about not building on the strong performance against Buffalo and how they "definitely [don't] want that result again."
Mission accomplished, even without Smith.
"It was a group effort today," Hamilton said. "They stepped up. They prepared all week like they were going to be the starter."
