Ravens’ passing offense vs. Titans’ passing defense:
Tennessee was pretty awful against the pass, allowing the ninth-most passing yards per game this season.
Opponents tended to use their underneath receivers against Pees’ unit, allowing the third-most receptions (103) to running backs this season. Baltimore began to use Ingram more in the receiving game in the second half of the regular season, seeing him catch 14 passes for 151 yards and all five of his receiving touchdowns from Week 9 on. If Ingram is able to play in this one, he could get a heavy dose of targets to take advantage of a defense that uses a lot of zone coverage with a single high safety and will be keeping eyes on Jackson in the backfield as a rushing threat.
The Titans allowed 916 receiving yards to tight ends, the seventh-most in the NFL. Teams targeted their tight ends against Tennessee on 21% of their pass attempts and were rewarded with an average of 7.8 yards per attempt –eighth-most in the league.
This is great news for Baltimore and their trio of trusty tight ends in particular. Mark Andrews, Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle commanded 42% of the Ravens’ targets in 2019 with Andrews leading the entire team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. This group, and in particular Andrews, should be in for a busy day if and when the Ravens are forced to throw the ball. Linebacker Jayon Brown is usually responsible in coverage for tight ends and is out with an injury, creating an even bigger mismatch in favor of Baltimore.
The Titans do have a weapon in safety Kevin Byard, which Jackson will have to be wary of when he goes to throw. Byard had five interceptions in the regular season and allowed only a 57.4% completion rate when targeted. But his 15.5 yards-per-completion allowed points to Byard being beatable in the right circumstances.
With the NFL’s most efficient scoring quarterback at the helm, the Ravens should be in good shape when throwing the football. As long as Jackson doesn’t force any passes, he should find someone open for modest gains on most downs.