I’m sure there were people out there who thought the Ravens could go into San Diego and beat the Chargers on their home turf, but I’m not sure if anyone envisioned they way in which it would happen. If I would’ve told you that the Ravens were going beat the Chargers in a shootout, you probably would’ve said I was crazy. But despite Philip Rivers thrashing the Ravens defense to the tune of 436 yards, Mr. Flacco and Co. never backed down and showed the Chargers they weren’t the only team on the field that could put up points. Now it’s time to see who took home this week’s awards…

The POG

Mr. Ray Lewis takes home the POG award this week. Coming into this season, there were people out there who said that Lewis isn’t the player he once was and that he has lost a step. Yes, he is getting older but his instincts have not waivered one bit. He stills knows where to be on every play and can sense when and where a play is going to develop and he reacts accordingly. In Sunday’s game, Lewis had 12 tackles, forced a fumble and caused Rivers to throw an interception at a key point in the game. But, as he has done so many times before, he saved his best for last. On 4th and game (yes, that’s supposed to say game), Lewis busted through the middle and pummeled Darren Sproles in the backfield to seal the victory. The best thing about this play, though, is how natural it looked. Lewis was born to do this and when it’s all said and done he’ll be one of the greatest middle linebackers ever, if not the greatest.

The “Oh, S***” Moment

If the Ravens had to worry about anything coming into this game it was trying to contain the speed of Sproles. Well, they didn’t get off to a very good start. Just over two minutes into to the game, Sproles took a screen pass from Rivers and scurried his way through a pack of Ravens defenders and into the end zone. At that point, I’m sure there were plenty of Raven’s fans out there scratching their heads and asking themselves, “How in the hell are we going to stop this guy?” The bad news was that they couldn’t find a way to stop him, as he finished with seven catches for 124 yards. The good news was that they didn’t have to stop him because both sides of the ball played well enough to escape with the victory and a 2-0 start.

The “Man, I’m Glad That Happened” Moment

Ray-Ray making the big stop to seal the deal. Enough said.

“Let’s Work on That For Next Week…”

The poor play of the secondary. I know the Chargers receivers were about two feet taller than the entire secondary, but it just seemed like they didn’t show up this week. The front seven bailed out the secondary out in the red zone, though, only allowing the Chargers to kick four short field goals while keeping constant pressure on Rivers. Luckily for the Ravens, the Chargers were without their red zone go-to-guy LaDainian Tomlinson, who was out with an ankle injury. The secondary may be able to rest a little easier next week with Cleveland’s porous offense coming into town, but they better fix their mistakes before they see Tom Brady and Peyton Manning later this season.

There was another tidbit of information I wanted to present but couldn’t figure out a clever enough award name for it, so I’ll just put it here in this paragraph. If there were any questions about Flacco suffering through a sophomore jinx, he has answered them with his play thus far this season. He has been as calm and collected in pressure situations as I’ve ever seen out of a Ravens quarterback. He doesn’t get nervous and he doesn’t make the crucial mistakes that most young quarterbacks in his position make. Get excited Ravens’ fans because this is the franchise quarterback you’ve been waiting a long time to see and he’s here to stay.