Ravens' Jackson, Chargers' Herbert will take center stage once Harbaugh Bowl kicks off Monday night

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Most of the attention surrounding Monday night's showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers has been centered on the first coaching matchup since 2012 between John and Jim Harbaugh.

Once the game kicks off, all the focus will be on quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert.

“To be honest, I don’t think about it," Jackson said of the hype around the Harbaugh Bowl. "I can’t speak for everyone else. I remember watching them, not literally play against each other, but coaching against each other for the Super Bowl game. I remember watching that. I thought that was dope, but I don’t think about it right now.”

Jackson directs a Ravens offense that's averaging a league-leading 430.1 yards per game. The seventh-year signal caller also leads the NFL with a 117.3 passer rating and is second with 25 touchdown passes.

Herbert was hampered by foot and ankle injuries the first quarter of the season, which also steepened the learning curve with a new offense. Since their bye in Week 5, though, the Chargers' offense has been more consistent, averaging 368.2 yards — eighth-best in the league over the past six games.

Both quarterbacks have excelled when playing on “Monday Night Football." Jackson is 6-2 with a 124.0 passer rating, 20 touchdowns and no interceptions. Herbert is 4-3 with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

“Coach Harbaugh has done a great job and we enjoy playing for him so much," Herbert said. “We know how important it is for him. It is another very important game for us, but also understand it is a special moment for him."

Jackson's strength this season has been on intermediate passes. He's completing an NFL-best 69.1% of his passes that are 10-19 yards in the air for 965 yards with 11 touchdowns and only one interception.

Herbert and the Chargers' penchant for wanting to burn opposing defenses with deep balls has been rediscovered under Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Herbert has seven touchdowns and no interceptions on passes of at least 20 air yards. He'll be facing a Ravens defense that has allowed the second-most yards and tied for the most touchdowns (seven) given up on deep passes.

There's good reason why there's a lot of hype surrounding this matchup — it is an important game for both teams to solidify their chances of getting to the playoffs.

Los Angeles (7-3) has won four straight and holds the fifth seed in the AFC. Baltimore (7-4) holds the sixth seed and can't afford to go two losses down to the Chargers if they can't catch Pittsburgh for the AFC North title.

This is the third matchup between the Harbaugh brothers. The previous two were when Jim was coaching the San Francisco 49ers.

John has won both meetings — 16-6 in Baltimore on Thanksgiving Day 2011 and 34-31 in Super Bowl 47 in New Orleans to end the 2012 season.

Monday night's game is occurring on their parents' 63rd wedding anniversary. Jack and Jackie Harbaugh will not be at the game and are spending Thanksgiving week in Florida.

The quarterbacks aren't the only intriguing matchup. Both teams also possess strong run games.

Baltimore's Derrick Henry leads the league with 1,185 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns (13 rushing, 2 receiving). He's also the fourth player in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) with a touchdown in each of his first 11 games in a season.

Henry replaced the two backs now in Los Angeles' backfield — J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. Dobbins is third in the AFC with 726 yards and his 4.8 yards per carry is second in the conference among those with at least 100 carries. Henry leads with a 6.0 yard average.

Edwards missed four games with an ankle injury, but is averaging 5.1 yards on 16 carries in the two games since his return.

Monday's matchup features the top three players in the AFC in running plays of at least 20 yards. Jackson has 24, followed by Henry (23) and Dobbins (22).

The connections in this matchup run deeper than the Harbaughs.

Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz spent 26 seasons in the Ravens' front office. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter are two of five assistants who also spent time on John Harbaugh's Baltimore staff.

Six players, including Dobbins and Edwards, are also former Ravens. Linebacker Kyle Van Noy was with the Chargers during the 2022 season, while backup quarterback Josh Johnson (San Diego) and outside linebacker David Ojabo (Michigan) played for Jim Harbaugh in college.

Ravens running backs coach Willie Taggart was on Harbaugh's staff at Stanford, but also played for family patriarch Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky. Secondary coach Doug Mallory played with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and also was a defensive analyst on his staff.

Los Angeles — tied for fifth in the league with 34 sacks on the season — has 21 in its last four games. Linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu has led the way with seven sacks in that span, while linebacker Bud Dupree and defensive lineman Poona Ford have three apiece.

Baltimore is tied for third with 35 sacks and has recorded at least two sacks in 14 straight games, the league’s longest active streak. Van Noy leads the team with seven.

Tuipulotu and Van Noy are the only players in the NFL this season to have three straight games with multiple sacks.

One player the Ravens could count on pretty much unconditionally through the years has been kicker Justin Tucker, but he missed twice last weekend against Pittsburgh, raising his season total of failed field goal attempts to six.

“If you just take the 10,000-foot view, and you look at where all the kicks have gone, they’ve gone just wide left,” Tucker said. “The adjustment is pretty clear; I just need to make it a point not to let the ball carry to the left. So, that’s something that we’re going to continue to work on in practice.”

AP Sports Writer Noah Trister in Owings Mills, Maryland, contributed to this report.

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Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) is chased by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, scrambles as Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen tries to stop him during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, right, celebrates after a rushing touchdown by running back J.K. Dobbins (27) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Thousands from the junta-led countries in Africa’s Sahel region gathered this week in the Nigerien capital of Niamey, with music and cultural displays, to condemn what they called the West's imperialist agenda and to drive support for their military regimes.

Delegates from Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali took part in the three-day conference that ended on Thursday. The junta leaders of the three countries are seeking greater popular support after they deposed democratically elected governments and severed ties with longstanding Western partners such as France, their former colonial ruler, with Russia the new preferred partner.

All three nations are nearing the end of their one-year withdrawal process from the West Africa regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which they accuse of being influenced by France in sanctioning them for the coups and of failing to help address the extremist violence rampant across their shared borders.

Conference delegates – including pro-junta youth, women and civil society groups as well as allies from across West Africa and beyond — discussed their countries’ sovereignty as well as economic and security partnerships being forged under the bloc of the three junta-led countries known as the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES.

Major highlights were the three countries' colors and cultures depicted in the attires and just about everything else as well as music performances and songs, beginning with a pro-junta rendition by Nigerien artiste Idi Sarki, who flashed back to the July 2023 coup in the country.

“Nigeriens, wake up, we don’t want the French army on our land anymore,” sang Sarki, referring to the French troops asked to leave in the wake of the military takeover in Niger and other countries in the region.

“After the colonization, it’s recolonization … We’ll have to intervene one way or another if we want our energy and economic sovereignty — we need raw materials from sub-Saharan Africa,” he sang as the ecstatic crowd chorused and waved flags of the three coup-hit countries.

A women’s music group also performed a song dedicated to African youth.

“After so many years of suffering, the youths rise today in an awakening of conscience for a fight towards hope and freedom,” said the leader performer, wearing with others a white-and-grey traditional gown and scarf.

Since the coups, the militaries in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have promised to help address shortcomings that they said inspired them to take over power, such as the deadly violence and economic hardships faced by their citizens.

But the problems have persisted, even worsening in some cases. And in Mali where the junta seized power in 2020, the civilian prime minister appointed by the military was fired on Wednesday after he criticized delays in the election that was to usher in a new government.

Some at the conference, however, expressed optimism that the militaries would deliver long sought-after democratic dividends.

“How can we live under a so-called democracy, when there are no schools?” asked Ali Moussa, who came from the Central African country of Gabon, where a military junta is also in power. “We think that times have changed, it is no longer the time to talk about democracy,” he said.

The campaign for sovereignty and anti-imperialism should also extend to other African countries, said Inem Richardson, who came from Burkina Faso where she runs a pan-African library called the Thomas Sankara Center, named for a Marxist military officer who took power in a 1983 coup.

“All of Africa needs to unite … the masses should be 100% engaged,” Richardson said.

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Associated Press journalist Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Women attend the Conference in Solidarity with the people of the Sahel in Niamey, Niger Wednesday, November 20, 2024 (AP Photo)