The Los Angeles Chargers offseason was filled with huge moves. Some of those moves had ties to the Baltimore Ravens. They hired their director of player personnel, Joe Hortiz to be general manager, hired the Ravens’ former offensive coordinator to run their offense, and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter got his start in the NFL with the Baltimore franchise — spending four years with the team.
They even added former Ravens, running backs, JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards, center Bradley Bozeman, and even signed one of their scouting assistants (and former safety) Tony Jefferson as a rotational defensive back.
The Ravens’ DNA is all over this iteration of the Chargers. And it isn’t lost on John Harbaugh, the Ravens head coach and brother of the Chargers head coach, Jim Harbaugh.
Will The Ravens DNA Reveal Too Much About The Chargers?
“It’s different than other games, sure,” John said. “Because we know the schemes pretty much, but there will be wrinkles, there will be ideas. It’s kind of the old [saying], ‘They know what we know that we know that they know that we know that they know what we know.’ With that, there will be wrinkles, I’m sure.”
The elder Harbaugh, John has come out on top when he faced Jim, although the two-game sample size isn’t the best determinant. They faced one another on Thanksgiving Day in 2011. The final score was 16-6, Ravens. Then they met again in Super Bowl LXVII, the far higher scoring affair also ended in the Ravens’ favor, 34-31.
These narrow margins follow suit with a sibling rivalry. And it is made clear by a story John told about fights the two would have when growing up. John, being older was bigger during their youth. Jim developed a defensive fighting style he called ‘the crab,’ in which Jim would lie on his back and essentially take away the size advantage by using his hands and feet to fend off John’s attack. John’s pivot was to use a large corduroy pillow to knock Jim’s limbs out of the way, then continue the beating.
This sort of back and forth should be expected as the Chargers play host to the Ravens. But will the depth of knowledge go in both directions as the Ravens have looked outside their ecosystem for Todd Monken, their offensive coordinator?
