Never In Doubt

In the days leading up to Sunday afternoon’s contest in Cincinnati, there were whispers about the Bengals playing spoiler. The unfortunate memories of the soul crushing loss to the end the 2017 season were still fresh in fans’ minds. Also, the Cincinnati Bengals had been playing better football as of late; winners of two straight. Surely, they would like nothing more than to upset a division foe and end their season on a sour note once again.

With a road victory over the Bengals standing between the Baltimore Ravens and a third consecutive trip to the postseason, how would they respond?

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They responded by posting an utterly dominating performance, en route to clinching the #5 seed in the AFC playoffs by way of 38-3 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The opening drive for the Ravens did not culminate in the end zone but it did last 12 plays, consumed just under 7 minutes and served as a harbinger of what was to follow. Baltimore controlled the clock for a whopping 40 minutes, 32 seconds, while amassing 404 yards on the ground. The rushing effort from Jackson and company was a mere 19 yards shy of the single game, team rushing record of 423 yards; which was set by the 1950 New York Giants.

Within that 404 yard performance was a record setting day for Lamar Jackson. His 97 yards on 11 carries helped him eclipse the 1,000 yard mark on the ground for the 2^nd straight season, which makes him the only quarterback in NFL history to achieve that feat. Jackson added 113 yard passing, along with 3 touchdowns, which allowed him to punch out early and let Tyler Huntley get some snaps in the relief.

The backfield tandem of Gus Edwards and rookie JK Dobbins continued to shine. Edwards chipped in 60 tough yards on 12 carries and Dobbins posted his best game as a pro with 13 carries for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. The somewhat forgotten man in the running back room, Mark Ingram, returned to action and added 39 yards on 9 carries.

Does Ingram’s inclusion in the game plan on Sunday foreshadow of a role for him in the postseason? Maybe even a bit of gamesmanship from Harbaugh and Roman; are they preparing to unleash a 3 headed monster out of the backfield on Wild Card weekend? Or, was it simply a sign of respect to a veteran by giving him some action in the season finale? Time will tell.

The Baltimore Ravens delivered exactly what was expected of them on Sunday. They took charge of the game from the opening whistle and never gave their opponent a glimmer of hope. They have the look of a team that has found their identity and is poised to make a run deep into January. This one, was never in doubt.

Remember the Titans?

In contrast to the Ravens’ beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals, the Tennessee Titans played in a back and forth, edge of your seat thriller, which culminated in a Titans victory.  The win wasn’t easy, as it came by way of a ricocheted field goal as time expired, off the leg of rookie Sam Sloman, who played in place of veteran Stephen Gostowski, who’d landed on the COVID reserve list earlier this week.

Despite it being the first week of 2021, that scenario sounded quite 2020esque.

The win earned Tennessee the AFC South title and a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens this coming Sunday at 1 pm.

For those of us older fans, there was a time when the biggest rival of the Ravens was not the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the days of the old AFC Central, the battles between the Ravens and Titans were epic. In 1999, Tennessee transitioned to being the Titans and settled into their permanent home in Nashville, Adelphia Coliseum at the time. They had won 13 straight in their new building and it was the Trent Dilfer led Ravens that handed them their first home loss after being renamed the Titans; with a little help from Al Del Greco, of course. About 2 months later, the Ravens visited Nashville again, this time as a Wild Card and the number 4 seed to face off against the number 1 seeded Titans. That afternoon provided some of the most iconic moments in franchise history; prior to kickoff, the Titans played a montage of clips of the Ravens talking trash about them, to which Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe replied, “We said it!! Whatever they said we said, we said it!!” Then, there was the Anthony Mitchell 90 yard return of blocked field goal and Ray Lewis wrestling a short pass away from running back Eddie George, then rumbling down the sideline for his first NFL touchdown. The 24-10 victory that afternoon would be the signature win of a run to the Lombardi Trophy in Tampa later that January.

If you’re into coincidences, the last time that Tennessee won the division was back in 2008. Their first playoff game that year? A matchup against the 11-5 Baltimore Ravens, who had qualified for the postseason as a Wild Card. All told, the Ravens and Titans have met 4 times in the playoffs, with the road team notching victories in each contest.

This year’s version of the Tennessee Titans feature the most dominating running back in the game today, Derrick Henry, who eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards on the season to become just the 8^th back in NFL history to reach that milestone. The running prowess of Henry has afforded quarterback Ryan Tannehill the opportunity to have a career renaissance of sorts. Since taking over as the Titans starter in week 6 of 2019, Tannehill has gone 17-8 in the regular season while averaging over 8.5 yards per pass attempt and tossing 55 TDs to only 13 interceptions. The efforts of Tannehill, Henry and a group of big, physical wide receivers, led by AJ Brown has helped the Titans amass over 6,300 total yards this season and 491 total points; good for 3^rd and 4^th in the league in those categories, respectively.

On the opposite side of the ball, it’s a slightly different story for Tennessee. Defensively, they’ve allowed just under 400 yards per game, which ranks 28^th in the NFL. Their rushing defense, which will most definitely be tested this weekend, is 19^th overall, allowing just under 121 yards per game.

Since the COVID outbreak, the Ravens have re-discovered their rushing attack. In the final 5 games of the season, Baltimore has piled up 1337 yards on the ground, good for over 267 yards per game. During this same 5 game stretch, they’ve averaged 37.2 points per game, which has helped them to the best point differential in the league at plus 165. 

In spite of the rushing offense for the Ravens cranking on all cylinders over the last month, it could be tempting for Greg Roman to feature a pass heavy game plan because the Titans have given up 277.4 yards per game through the air. Let’s all hope Roman doesn’t fall into that trap, we’ve seen that movie before and it did not have a happy ending.

There will be no shortage of storylines in the upcoming week. A rivalry renewed as the Titans will look to take the next step after a run to the AFC title game last year, juxtaposed by the Ravens looking to avenge last year’s shocking playoff exit, while the sensational Lamar Jackson searches for that elusive first playoff win. Get your popcorn ready, it promises to be a good one.