One of my coworkers is a Ravens fan, and was planning to go to the game with a small group of his friends, so I decided to tag along for my first Chargers game in LA (well, technically second, as I went to the Coliseum in 1992 to watch them beat the Raiders). He lives about a half hour away from the stadium, but there is a good option to avoid the insane parking and traffic, for $30 you can park at a Metro station nearby and there are free buses running to the stadium before the game and back to the station.

The stadium is really nice, doesn't look like a bad seat in the place. We were in the nosebleeds in the corner of one endzone, but the angle is such that you have a really good view of the entire field and I barely used the binoculars I brought. We were also at eye level with the giant video ring suspended from the ceiling, so it was easy to watch replays and see stats.

Food was overpriced (expected) and meh (disappointing), but there are lots of stands on every level and service is pretty quick. By the time we got upstairs near our section it was ten minutes to kickoff, but I was able to get food and get seated in time for the national anthem.

Crowd was fairly evenly split (lots of Lamar Jackson jerseys), we had some really loud Ravens fans behind us but they were pretty harmless. Didn't see any fights or any real issues with the crowd. Most of the Chargers fans were pretty subdued and not really responding to the PA announcer's calls for noise. Good music during breaks (lots of rock/metal and West Coast hip hop), the sound system and lights were really good - I imagine a concert there would be a pretty great experience for a stadium show.

Obviously the game itself wasn't a lot of fun, the Chargers had a really good drive off the opening kickoff but the missed call on the late hit out of bounds forced them to settle for a field goal and the offense did almost nothing until the 4th quarter. This was the first time I'd ever seen Staley's "bend but don't break" philosophy actually work as intended, the Ravens moved the ball pretty well all night but the defense mostly came up with stops when they needed to. Herbert rarely had time to throw (and they couldn't run the ball at all), he mostly made good decisions but no one was getting open other than Keenan and on the last drive with a chance to tie or take the lead after a rare Justin Tucker miss he was forced into two rushed incompletes and that was pretty much the game.

Will probably go back next year, they're hosting the Ravens again due to the schedule rotation. Next time, I'll just eat beforehand.

Michael

p.s. The funniest jersey I saw all night was a Ravens #52 with the nameplate INNOCENT. At first I was all "who the heck in the NFL had the last name Innocent" then I remembered that was Ray Lewis' number.

phlash74 wrote:
> One of my coworkers is a Ravens fan, and was planning to go to the game with a small group of his friends, so I decided to tag along for my first Chargers game in LA (well, technically second, as I went to the Coliseum in 1992 to watch them beat the Raiders). He lives about a half hour away from the stadium, but there is a good option to avoid the insane parking and traffic, for $30 you can park at a Metro station nearby and there are free buses running to the stadium before the game and back to the station.
>
> The stadium is really nice, doesn't look like a bad seat in the place. We were in the nosebleeds in the corner of one endzone, but the angle is such that you have a really good view of the entire field and I barely used the binoculars I brought. We were also at eye level with the giant video ring suspended from the ceiling, so it was easy to watch replays and see stats.
>
> Food was overpriced (expected) and meh (disappointing), but there are lots of stands on every level and service is pretty quick. By the time we got upstairs near our section it was ten minutes to kickoff, but I was able to get food and get seated in time for the national anthem.
>
> Crowd was fairly evenly split (lots of Lamar Jackson jerseys), we had some really loud Ravens fans behind us but they were pretty harmless. Didn't see any fights or any real issues with the crowd. Most of the Chargers fans were pretty subdued and not really responding to the PA announcer's calls for noise. Good music during breaks (lots of rock/metal and West Coast hip hop), the sound system and lights were really good - I imagine a concert there would be a pretty great experience for a stadium show.
>
> Obviously the game itself wasn't a lot of fun, the Chargers had a really good drive off the opening kickoff but the missed call on the late hit out of bounds forced them to settle for a field goal and the offense did almost nothing until the 4th quarter. This was the first time I'd ever seen Staley's "bend but don't break" philosophy actually work as intended, the Ravens moved the ball pretty well all night but the defense mostly came up with stops when they needed to. Herbert rarely had time to throw (and they couldn't run the ball at all), he mostly made good decisions but no one was getting open other than Keenan and on the last drive with a chance to tie or take the lead after a rare Justin Tucker miss he was forced into two rushed incompletes and that was pretty much the game.
>
> Will probably go back next year, they're hosting the Ravens again due to the schedule rotation. Next time, I'll just eat beforehand.
>
> Michael
>
> p.s. The funniest jersey I saw all night was a Ravens #52 with the nameplate INNOCENT. At first I was all "who the heck in the NFL had the last name Innocent" then I remembered that was Ray Lewis' number.
>

Great report, thanks, Michael!

There was a second missed call early that the announcers called out, the
Chargers' punt returner was interfered with but the officials didn't
call anything. What a strange start to the game.

--Robin

On Monday, November 27, 2023 at 7:42:31 PM UTC-8, Robin Miller wrote:
> phlash74 wrote:
> > One of my coworkers is a Ravens fan, and was planning to go to the game with a small group of his friends, so I decided to tag along for my first Chargers game in LA (well, technically second, as I went to the Coliseum in 1992 to watch them beat the Raiders). He lives about a half hour away from the stadium, but there is a good option to avoid the insane parking and traffic, for $30 you can park at a Metro station nearby and there are free buses running to the stadium before the game and back to the station.
> >
> > The stadium is really nice, doesn't look like a bad seat in the place. We were in the nosebleeds in the corner of one endzone, but the angle is such that you have a really good view of the entire field and I barely used the binoculars I brought. We were also at eye level with the giant video ring suspended from the ceiling, so it was easy to watch replays and see stats..
> >
> > Food was overpriced (expected) and meh (disappointing), but there are lots of stands on every level and service is pretty quick. By the time we got upstairs near our section it was ten minutes to kickoff, but I was able to get food and get seated in time for the national anthem.
> >
> > Crowd was fairly evenly split (lots of Lamar Jackson jerseys), we had some really loud Ravens fans behind us but they were pretty harmless. Didn't see any fights or any real issues with the crowd. Most of the Chargers fans were pretty subdued and not really responding to the PA announcer's calls for noise. Good music during breaks (lots of rock/metal and West Coast hip hop), the sound system and lights were really good - I imagine a concert there would be a pretty great experience for a stadium show.
> >
> > Obviously the game itself wasn't a lot of fun, the Chargers had a really good drive off the opening kickoff but the missed call on the late hit out of bounds forced them to settle for a field goal and the offense did almost nothing until the 4th quarter. This was the first time I'd ever seen Staley's "bend but don't break" philosophy actually work as intended, the Ravens moved the ball pretty well all night but the defense mostly came up with stops when they needed to. Herbert rarely had time to throw (and they couldn't run the ball at all), he mostly made good decisions but no one was getting open other than Keenan and on the last drive with a chance to tie or take the lead after a rare Justin Tucker miss he was forced into two rushed incompletes and that was pretty much the game.
> >
> > Will probably go back next year, they're hosting the Ravens again due to the schedule rotation. Next time, I'll just eat beforehand.
> >
> > Michael
> >
> > p.s. The funniest jersey I saw all night was a Ravens #52 with the nameplate INNOCENT. At first I was all "who the heck in the NFL had the last name Innocent" then I remembered that was Ray Lewis' number.
> >
> Great report, thanks, Michael!
>
> There was a second missed call early that the announcers called out, the
> Chargers' punt returner was interfered with but the officials didn't
> call anything. What a strange start to the game.
>
> --Robin

Yeah, Davis was interfered with, but that one was a bit more borderline given that the coverage man looked like he tried to get out of the way at the last second (still should have been called). The Herbert non-call was especially awful because they tagged Salyer with an unnecessary roughness for coming to his defense, so instead of first and goal at the 3 or even 3rd and 4 from the 6, it was 3rd and 19 from the 21. In the stadium everyone reacted to the late flag thinking the officials had conferred and someone had told the ref who missed the call that Herbert was hit late, but then they announced the penalty on Salyer instead.

Michael

phlash74 wrote:
> On Monday, November 27, 2023 at 7:42:31 PM UTC-8, Robin Miller wrote:
>> phlash74 wrote:
>>> One of my coworkers is a Ravens fan, and was planning to go to the game with a small group of his friends, so I decided to tag along for my first Chargers game in LA (well, technically second, as I went to the Coliseum in 1992 to watch them beat the Raiders). He lives about a half hour away from the stadium, but there is a good option to avoid the insane parking and traffic, for $30 you can park at a Metro station nearby and there are free buses running to the stadium before the game and back to the station.
>>>
>>> The stadium is really nice, doesn't look like a bad seat in the place. We were in the nosebleeds in the corner of one endzone, but the angle is such that you have a really good view of the entire field and I barely used the binoculars I brought. We were also at eye level with the giant video ring suspended from the ceiling, so it was easy to watch replays and see stats.
>>>
>>> Food was overpriced (expected) and meh (disappointing), but there are lots of stands on every level and service is pretty quick. By the time we got upstairs near our section it was ten minutes to kickoff, but I was able to get food and get seated in time for the national anthem.
>>>
>>> Crowd was fairly evenly split (lots of Lamar Jackson jerseys), we had some really loud Ravens fans behind us but they were pretty harmless. Didn't see any fights or any real issues with the crowd. Most of the Chargers fans were pretty subdued and not really responding to the PA announcer's calls for noise. Good music during breaks (lots of rock/metal and West Coast hip hop), the sound system and lights were really good - I imagine a concert there would be a pretty great experience for a stadium show.
>>>
>>> Obviously the game itself wasn't a lot of fun, the Chargers had a really good drive off the opening kickoff but the missed call on the late hit out of bounds forced them to settle for a field goal and the offense did almost nothing until the 4th quarter. This was the first time I'd ever seen Staley's "bend but don't break" philosophy actually work as intended, the Ravens moved the ball pretty well all night but the defense mostly came up with stops when they needed to. Herbert rarely had time to throw (and they couldn't run the ball at all), he mostly made good decisions but no one was getting open other than Keenan and on the last drive with a chance to tie or take the lead after a rare Justin Tucker miss he was forced into two rushed incompletes and that was pretty much the game.
>>>
>>> Will probably go back next year, they're hosting the Ravens again due to the schedule rotation. Next time, I'll just eat beforehand.
>>>
>>> Michael
>>>
>>> p.s. The funniest jersey I saw all night was a Ravens #52 with the nameplate INNOCENT. At first I was all "who the heck in the NFL had the last name Innocent" then I remembered that was Ray Lewis' number.
>>>
>> Great report, thanks, Michael!
>>
>> There was a second missed call early that the announcers called out, the
>> Chargers' punt returner was interfered with but the officials didn't
>> call anything. What a strange start to the game.
>>
>> --Robin
>
> Yeah, Davis was interfered with, but that one was a bit more borderline given that the coverage man looked like he tried to get out of the way at the last second (still should have been called). The Herbert non-call was especially awful because they tagged Salyer with an unnecessary roughness for coming to his defense, so instead of first and goal at the 3 or even 3rd and 4 from the 6, it was 3rd and 19 from the 21. In the stadium everyone reacted to the late flag thinking the officials had conferred and someone had told the ref who missed the call that Herbert was hit late, but then they announced the penalty on Salyer instead.
>
> Michael
>

Right. It was just so Chargers to get hosed by the officials right off
the bat. And if they had scored a touchdown who knows what might have
happened. Dicker has turned into quite a kicker, though.

--Robin