MIKE BADGELEY KICKED five field goals and the Los Angeles Chargers held off a late fightback to beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-17 and advance in the NFL playoffs.
The Chargers booked a second-round matchup next Sunday at New England while top seed Kansas City will play host to Indianapolis on Saturday in the other American Conference contest.
Defending champion Philadelphia visited Chicago later Sunday to decide next weekend’s National Conference pairings with the winner and Dallas on the road at New Orleans and the Los Angeles Rams.
Rookie Badgley’s fifth field goal, a 47-yarder, gave the Chargers a 23-3 lead with 9:14 remaining.
But Baltimore rookie Lamar Jackson, who became the youngest quarterback in NFL playoff history on the eve of his 22nd birthday, threw touchdown passes of 7 and 31 yards to Michael Crabtree to pull the Ravens within 23-17.
The Ravens forced a punt and got the ball back with 45 seconds remaining but Uchenna Nwosu, a Chargers linebacker of Nigerian descent, knocked loose a fumble from Jackson and Melvin Ingram recovered for Los Angeles to secure the victory.
“We just come out and play assignment football. We have to come out and play together,” Ingram said. “Any squad. Any place. We don’t care.”
Baltimore fumbled three times in the first eight plays from scrimmage, the most costly when Kenneth Dixon had the ball knocked loose by LA’s Adrian Phillips and Ingram recovered at the Ravens 15-yard line.
Baltimore’s defenders stiffened with a goal-line stand and the Chargers settled for Badgley’s 21-yard field goal.
Badgley added a 53-yarder later in the first quarter and kicks of 40 and 34 yards in the second to give the Chargers a 12-0 half-time lead.
The Ravens responded in the third quarter, with C.J. Mosley recovering a fumble to set up a 33-yard Justin Tucker field goal.
Baltimore also blocked a Badgley field goal attempt and deflected a Chargers punt but Tucker was wide right on a 50-yard field goal attempt, his first career playoff miss after making nine in a row.
The Chargers then took the ball 60 yards in 10 plays for a pivotal touchdown on Melvin Gordon’s 1-yard run on fourth down after a crazy third-down play left both teams claiming a touchdown that neither achieved.
Referees eventually ruled the ball short of the goal line after first ruling a Charger touchdown on a run where the ball was fumbled, recovered by the Ravens and returned to the far end zone.
Philip Rivers connected on a 2-point conversion pass to Mike Williams for a 20-3 Chargers lead, leaving the Ravens needing at least three scoring plays in the final 14:44 to win.
Jackson led a comeback after being booed when he entered in the fourth quarter, many fans hoping in vain the hosts would turn to Super Bowl-winning former starter Joe Flacco after Jackson struggled most of the day.
© Agence France-Presse
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