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SD-BAL Grades: Ravens hit game-winning FG to drop Chargers

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) looks to pass in the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015 in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

Here are the top takeaways and highest-graded players from the Ravens’ 29-26 win over the Chargers.

San Diego Chargers

– After earning a brutal -6.0 grade against Oakland, LB Melvin Ingram bounced back impressively while compiling six combined pressures in 35 pass rushes. The bulk of his work came against LT James Hurst, who often looked overmatched trying to keep up with Ingram’s outside rush and snap timing – check out 11:17 of the first quarter for an example. Ingram later used the threat of an outside rush against Hurst in run defense, beating him inside for the stop at 10:38 of the fourth quarter.

– This was a rough game for C Trevor Robinson (-3.7), who struggled against the Ravens defensive front and often getting bulled back to squeeze the pocket or stood up at the point of attack. He provided no resistance to DT Timmy Jernigan at 13:56 of the first quarter, which resulted in a drive-killing sack. On San Diego’s final drive (4Q, 2:38), Robinson had a crucial blunder on a shotgun snap despite being saved by a quick reaction from QB Phillip Rivers.

– Rivers (+1.6) was perfect on 22 passes aimed either behind or within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, preferring to let his receivers do the work after the catch as he’s done for most of the season, with 191 of his 301 passing yards coming after the catch on Sunday. Just one quarterback (Alex Smith) has a lower percentage of yards coming through the air than Rivers’ 41.8%. He unleashed a couple of big time throws, including a second quarter touchdown to WR Keenan Allen (+1.7), but with little help from his running game (3.0 YPC for Melvin Gordon) and pressure on more than 45% of his dropbacks, it wasn’t quite enough to keep up with the Ravens offense.

Top performers:

CB Jason Verrett (+3.2)
LB Melvin Ingram (+3.2)
WR Keenan Allen (+1.7)
QB Phillip Rivers (+1.6)
LB Jerry Attaochu (+1.4)

Baltimore Ravens

– Despite a fairly thin receiver group and outside of a few misfires, QB Joe Flacco (+1.4) had a solid game with several big-time throws and no risky passes. You won’t see a better pass than the one he made at 9:24 of the second quarter, pulling the trigger on 3rd-and-1 to hit WR Chris Givens in stride for a big gain downfield. Otherwise, Flacco mostly stayed within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage with just nine intermediate or deep attempts. He faced a moderate amount of pressure (30% of dropbacks), but handled it well with an 83.3 accuracy percentage on those plays.

– Elvis Dumervil (+3.6) came into the game near the top of our 3-4 OLB grades and did nothing to change his standing after picking up five pressures in 34 rushes – and an additional two pressures that were nullified by penalty – with neither LG Chris Hairston nor RT Joe Barksdale providing much of a challenge against his array of pass rush moves. In run defense he went roughly even, but did pick up three defensive stops.

– Another positive game for safety Will Hill (+2.0), who finished in the green for his effort in both coverage and run defense. TE Antonio Gates (+0.1) beat him for 30 yards on a crossing pattern in the first quarter, but four other passes into Hill’s coverage resulted in just four total yards and a pass defense. He also added three defensive stops and finished another game without a missed tackle. Only one safety with more than 50 snaps has a better tackling efficiency rating than Hill.

Top performers:

LB Elvis Dumervil (+3.6)
LG Kelechi Osemele (+3.5)
DE Chris Canty (+2.3)
RG Marshal Yanda (+2.1)
S Will Hill (+2.0)

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