When the Los Angeles Chargers come to Acrisure Stadium on Sunday to face the Pittsburgh Steelers, Patrick Queen will see a lot of familiar concepts.
That is because Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2019-2022, is now the offensive coordinator for the Chargers. Queen practiced against that offense in his first three NFL seasons.
“I faced it for three years every day in practice,” Queen said before Wednesday’s practice in a video posted by TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X. “Smashmouth football, it’s that January-type football. He going to try to see if he could test you, test you and your will. And that’s why we gotta go out there and try to stop. It’s gonna be your man versus our man, so I can’t wait.”
In Roman’s four years as the Ravens’ OC, they finished first in total rushing yards in 2019 and 2020, third in 2021, and second in 2022. His offensive identity is very clear, and it meshes perfectly with what head coach Jim Harbaugh likes to do from his time at Michigan. The Ravens’ rushing totals over those years were clearly aided by having QB Lamar Jackson, but Roman is already off to a great start with the Chargers.
RB J.K. Dobbins leads the league in rushing yards with 266 through the first two weeks. The Chargers are only behind the Green Bay Packers in team rushing, averaging 197.5 yards in two games.
It is a very similar identity to what the Steelers want to accomplish on offense though the Chargers have found more success in the early portion of the season. Pittsburgh has 139.0 rushing yards per game, just the 12th best in the league.
The unstoppable force of the Chargers’ run game will be met by the immovable object of the Steelers’ run defense. The Steelers are tied for the fourth-fewest rushing yards allowed with just 76.5 per game.
The Ravens moved on from Greg Roman as they tried to push Jackson to evolve into more of a passer. Through two games, QB Justin Herbert’s stats are remarkably similar to Justin Fields’. That tells us all we need to know about what type of game this is going to be Sunday between two of the five remaining undefeated teams in the AFC.
