Harbaugh Bowl pits league’s best offense against No. 1-ranked defense

Baltimore is 0-3 when Derrick Henry has less than 14 carries. The Ravens are 7-1 when they hand it to him 15-plus times in a game. According to head coach John Harbaugh, the winning formula is much more complicated, including the failed two-point conversion that would’ve tied the game in last week’s 18-16 loss at Pittsburgh

“Derrick Henry is a great football player and you want him out there situationally, but he’s not out there for every play,” Harbaugh said this week as the Ravens (7-4) prepare for a critical road showdown against the Chargers (7-3) on Monday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC).

“Coaches are in early and they’re home late, and we all try to put the best plan we can together and come up with the best plays, and when it doesn’t work out, it hurts; it’s bad. And you feel disappointed about it, because it’s your job, and it’s what you want to get done well.”

Baltimore’s job doesn’t get easier this week. Monday’s game not only pits Harbaugh against his brother, it also matches the Ravens’ No. 1-ranked offense (430.1 yards per game) against the Chargers’ top-ranked scoring defense (14.5 points allowed per ger game). Still, former player and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark said Thursday, Henry is the key to beating Los Angeles because using him takes the Chargers out of their two high safeties and creates more one-on-one matchups.

“They better run it, run it and run it,” Clark said on Thursday’s edition of NFL Live. “Stick to the run, even when it doesn’t work, because we’ve seen in three games this season them abandoning Derrick Henry and those three games have been all Ls for the Baltimore Ravens.”

Henry leads the NFL in both rushing yards (1,185) and rushing touchdowns (13), but the Chargers have surrendered a league-low three rushing touchdowns and allowed just one 100-yard rusher (James Conner, 101 in Week 7). The big Ravens running back also leads the NFL with 15 scrimmage touchdowns and if he can reach the end zone again in Los Angeles, he’ll make history, becoming the fourth player in the Super Bowl era to register a touchdown in each of his first 12 games of a season. Only Hall of Famers O.J. Simpson (first 14 games in 1975), Jerry Rice (first 12 in 1987) and John Riggins (first 12 in 1983) have done that.

Another player producing plenty of touchdowns – especially on Monday nights – is Lamar Jackson. The quarterback is 6-2 all-time in Monday night games, with 20 touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns, no interceptions and a 124.0 passer rating. But he also knows getting a seventh win will be a challenge against this defense. What stands out is the Chargers’ plus-eight turnover margin, tied for fifth in the NFL.

“They’re just flying around, creating chaos, getting turnovers, stuff like that,” said Jackson, who owns a 3-0 career record against the Chargers and leads the league with a 117.3 passer rating. “That’s a huge, huge job for the defense to do. For those guys to keep the offense on the field, create turnovers; that’s why they’re holding teams to 14 points or lower.”

For more information on the Ravens and Chargers, visit the Baltimore and L.A. Chargers team pages at ProFootballPost.com.