A lot was made of the Chargers’ decision to use seven defensive backs to stop the Ravens’ run game — (it worked: they held them to just 90 yards rushing.) While the added speed on the field certainly was a factor, the Chargers really didn’t defend the Ravens much differently than they did in their first meeting in Week 16, when the Ravens ran for 159 yards on the Chargers.



In that first matchup, the Chargers actually used a dime defense for most of the game with six defensive backs. The two starting inside linebackers in that game were Jatavis Brown, who is a 212 lb. speedy linebacker, and safety Adrian Phillips. Brown was lost to a season ending ankle injury a week before the playoffs. In the wild-card game, the two starting inside linebackers were Phillips and safety Jahleel Addae. So does replacing Brown, who is smaller than some safeties, with Addae make that much of a difference? It really doesn’t.



Last year, under defensive...