Behind Enemy Lines: Looking into the Titans’ second postseason game of the season with Ravens Wire
We previewed the matchup with Ravens Wire managing editor Matthew Stevens ahead of Saturday.
4. Tannehill threw for just 72 yards against the Patriots and the Titans still won. How well can the Ravens stop a ground attack with Derrick Henry at the center?
MS: The Ravens have used a lot of dime coverage this season to take advantage of their great secondary while letting the defensive line bottle up running backs as much as possible with the understanding they shouldn’t be able to create enough big plays to stay in the game.
The other big thing has been Baltimore’s offense getting out to an early lead and forcing opponents to stop running the ball in order to play catch up, which explains how the Ravens rank 21st in average rushing yards allowed while giving up the fewest attempts and rushing yards per game.
In this one, I don’t think that strategy is going to work as well and Baltimore is going to have to take Henry out first and foremost while daring Tannehill to beat them. So we could see a switch from the dime packages usually used to either a base or big nickel package to get bigger bodies on the field to square up on Henry better.
Most important though is making sure defenders aren’t trying to take down Henry by themselves and ensuring every tackle has textbook form because he can bounce off big hits and run through arm tackles like few backs in this league.