Let’s first hand it to the Tennessee Titans, who came up with a great gameplan and executed it to perfection in their 28-12 drubbing of the Baltimore Ravens.
Alright, with that out of the way . . . what just happened? How did the most dominant team in the NFL, with the league’s best rushing attack, MVP frontrunner at quarterback and aggressive defense not only lose but get absolutely dominated all game long? It’s going to be something we look at for the next seven months but let’s dig into the rough version now.
To begin, we have to address the Ravens’ sluggish start. Whether you want to call it rust from several starters not playing for three weeks or the team was too arrogant, Baltimore’s opening drives foreshadowed the rest of the game.
The first drive ended on an interception — a high pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson with tight end Mark Andrews tipping it right to safety Kevin Byard, who returned it to Baltimore’s 35-yard line. A few plays later and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill found tight end Jonnu Smith on an impressive catch in the corner of the end zone.
The second drive ended with a turnover-on-downs as Jackson couldn’t pick up a fourth-and-one from their own 45-yard line. On the very next play, Tannehill connected with Kalif Raymond, who beat cornerback Marlon Humphrey on a little move outside before turning it back up for the touchdown reception.
Before you knew it, Tennessee was up 14-0.
While we’ve rarely seen Baltimore play from behind this season, they’ve shown they have the firepower and resolve to quickly put up points. But what we saw all game long wouldn’t have given that impression to anyone tuning in for the first time.
Jackson had more rushing attempts than both of his running backs combined by halftime to pretty mediocre results. And when he did throw the football, he looked to be in his own head and frequently threw off-target. Having three drops by his receivers by halftime certainly didn’t do him any good but it’s not like the passes were exactly strikes in the receivers’ bellies either.
Jackson, whether it was the pressure to perform better than his last playoff game or to live up to his MVP billing, beat himself all night long. He tried too hard to do everything and win the game on every play, only to make poor decisions and help make the offense one-dimensional. And eventually, failed drives and turnovers took their toll on the entire team.
The offense completely abandoning running the football with anyone that wasn’t Jackson was the tune of the second half. While down just eight points to start the third quarter, Baltimore turned to deep throws, seemingly panicking yet not using up-tempo to try to score quickly either. They completely abandoned running the football by anyone who wasn’t Jackson, further getting away from their brand of football.
And with so many failed drives, the Ravens’ defense began to look more sluggish and unwilling to tackle bruising running back Derrick Henry. Tennessee began to give Baltimore a taste of their own medicine, chewing up the clock and causing the offense to further panic, creating a spiral down for the entire team.
The Ravens did absolutely nothing well in this game. They got away from their style of offense, panicked, got beat up in the trenches and shot themselves in the foot repeatedly. They committed seven penalties for 56 yards and turned the football over seven times (two interceptions, one fumble and four turnovers-on-downs). The short way to explain it was that Baltimore let the Titans dictate the game — physically and mentally.
With their eyes set on Super Bowl LIV and seemingly already in Miami tonight, this loss is going to be the toughest to recover from in quite some time.
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