The NFL’s top-ranked defense got beat at its own game
BALTIMORE — Anthony Lynn stood quietly off to the side in the visitors’ locker room after his Chargers beat the Ravens 23-17 in Sunday’s AFC wild-card game and watched his players celebrate their first playoff win since the 2013 season.
There was a feeling of satisfaction for the former Jets assistant coach, but it was fleeting.
Lynn, who coached under defensive maven Rex Ryan with the Jets and Bills before finally getting his chance as a head coach in 2017, had just grossly outcoached Ravens head coach John Harbaugh in leading his tough-minded team to a remarkable seventh road victory in eight games this season.
But he wasn’t about basking in accomplishment.
“We just won one game in the playoffs,’’ Lynn told The Post. “I feel like this team has a lot more to offer. We’re looking forward to Round 2. When this season is over, then we can look back and reflect on this and that. Right now, we’re trying to accomplish our main goal.’’
That, of course, is the Super Bowl, a place his former bombastic boss promised to get the Jets to but never delivered.
So now Lynn’s Chargers, who finished 12-4 in the regular season, tying the Chiefs for the best record in the AFC, go to New England to play the Patriots in the AFC divisional round Sunday.
“Any time you can get to a championship game and have a chance to play for the [Lombardi] trophy, that’s an honor and it’s flattering,’’ Lynn said. “But New England, they’ve made it pretty clear that, most of the time, if you’re going to win that Lombardi Trophy, you’ve got to go through them.
“We’re going to get our opportunity. That’s all you can ask for is an opportunity.’’
The Chargers get that opportunity because they played defense a hell of a lot better than the Ravens, who owned the No. 1-ranked defense all season.
The same Ravens team that beat the Chargers 22-10 on Dec. 22 in Los Angeles, were dominated by Lynn’s team on Sunday.
“I feel like the first time we played them we played their game,’’ Lynn said. “Today, we played our game. Our defense was outstanding. No one has played that team the way our defense played today.’’
The way the Chargers beat up on the Ravens with a scheme that baffled Baltimore surely had to make Ryan smile from afar. Partially because of injuries to some of their linebackers and mostly because they were determined not to let Ravens rookie quarterback Lamer Jackson run wild on them, the Chargers deployed seven defensive backs for most of the game.
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How did it work?
With eight minutes remaining in the game, the Ravens recorded their first first down of the second half and fourth of the game. Jackson was 2-of-8 for 17 yards with an interception and two fumbles in the first half.
This was a Ravens offense that rumbled for 296 rushing yards on the Browns last week.
“Lamar is real fast and we thought putting speed guys in there … we didn’t know if that was going to work, but we wanted to take a look at it,’’ Lynn said.
“They had mostly DBs in the box for more speed, I guess, [but] that shouldn’t have stopped us, we stopped ourselves,’’ Jackson said.
Wrong.
“Obviously, when you’re going to see a team for the second time you’re going to have a better idea going against them,’’ Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa said. “The coaches did an unbelievable job breaking their line down and we had an idea of what they were going to do on every snap in the run game. Their tendencies were really heavy, so it worked out.’’
Asked if it looked like Jackson got frustrated, Lynn said, “Well, if you’re used to rushing the ball for 300 yards a game and we hold you to 90, yeah, I would get frustrated.’’
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So the Chargers came into the home of the top-ranked defense and played like the top-ranked defense.
Defensive end Melvin Ingram was an absolute force with two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery that clinched the game after rookie linebacker Uchenna Nwosu knocked the ball out of Jackson’s hands with the Ravens attempting one final comeback.
“The Ravens have a great defense, the No. 1-overall defense,’’ Nwosu said. “I think we made some noise out there, letting people know we’re coming to compete with the best.’’
Asked what kind of statement the Chargers made with Sunday’s performance, Bosa said, “We’ve been making statements all year.’’
Maybe more people will notice now, particularly in New England.
