This Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers will attempt to remain undefeated as they take on the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers are also 2-0, and part of the reason for that is the mentality and toughness brought to the team by their new head coach, Jim Harbaugh. While these two squads don’t have much of a rivalry, their similarities in terms of play styles could lead to one.
While Harbaugh now coaches the Chargers, he spent the past decade of his coaching career at the University of Michigan. Michigan plays in the Big Ten, which has plenty of rivalries among its members. One of the biggest of those rivalries is between Michigan and Penn State.
One of the young cornerstones on Pittsburgh’s defense, Joey Porter Jr., spent four years at Penn State. While there, he faced the Harbaugh-led Wolverines a few times. During the team’s media availability on Wednesday, Porter compared Sunday’s matchup to some of those Michigan and Penn State games over the last couple of years.
“It feels like Michigan when I was watching the tape,” said Porter. “And, I’m kind of getting excited because of that, ’cause of the old rivalry I had at Penn State. So I’m just ready for all of it, really.”
If there’s one staple regarding a Harbaugh-led team, it’s physicality, and specifically when running the ball. Greg Roman was added to Los Angeles’ staff as an offensive coordinator this offseason, and he’s been known to focus on the run as well during his time as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator over the past few years.
Roman took some of his old friends to Los Angeles with him. Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, two former Ravens’ backs, now split carries in Los Angeles. All in all, this game plan has worked well for the Chargers. Edwards and Dobbins have combined for 351 rushing yards on 56 attempts. Dobbins has accounted for most of that, with a league-leading 266 rushing yards and 9.9 yards per attempt to his name.
The Steelers seem to be considered the favorite to win on Sunday. Still, this will be a hard-nosed, physical football game. Pittsburgh and Los Angeles play a tough, physical brand of football offensively. With that in mind, the Chargers will try to establish the run game early. It will be important for Porter and the rest of his defense to step up to the challenge and make life difficult for both Chargers’ backs. If they can do that, it will go a long way towards securing a 3-0 record on Sunday.
Michigan and Harbaugh got the best of Porter during his final two years in college, beating Penn State in 2021 and 2022. Porter will be looking to get some revenge this time around and even that rivalry out a bit.
