Divisional Round: Baltimore Ravens (14-2) vs Tennessee Titans (10-7)

[diamondbull424]

“Tennessee here we come, buckle up your chin straps because its going to be physical.” - Ray Lewis

This is a classic rematch from back in the AFC Central days. Yet no players are left to remember the older rivalries. The last time we played the Titans in such a meaningful game was in 2008 when the above throwback video was created. Harbaugh was a rookie HC with a Special Teams background finding his way. This throwback is more for media and fan waxing. In reality, these Ravens don’t need a rousing speech, they don’t need to be reminded that they are not yet at their goals, that they “haven’t arrived yet.” This is a unit that has had one goal all year and know that these Tennessee Titans are ABSOLUTELY in the way. This is less a team and more a force of nature.

The above said, we also know that this message board is one where the echoes of prescient belief cascades into the divine providence of the football god/s. Titans fans have delivered their diatribes of disrespect upon the unrelenting force of nature on its mission to annihilate, the beckoned call already installed into the demonstrable black wings. A flock cawing and cawing, an unkindness ravages, talons terrorize the Titans... who have always fallen before the gods. So while the last remnants of disrespect flows from the souls of these most disrespecting hosts for their humbling session; upon the conclusion of Saturdays wake they will have finally learned the darkness of their lesson, as the feathers flap feverishly for the clocks final seconds... For now and ever, forever and now, these blasphemers will be made to promise against their most unwise rapping, the last footfalls tapping, the last of their sweet sweat splashing to the floor, as the Titans fans screams at our forums door, “Nevermore”; These humbled men fall to the floor tearfully screeching, “Nevermore!”; these broken men speaking, “Nevermore!”

But this isn’t the game, this isn’t the win that matters most. This team has got bigger goals. Nobody cares, work harder....

Where: The Bank

When: January 11, 2020- 8:15 pm EST

Network: CBS

Weather: 64º F; 0% chance of precipitation Q1-Q4; Wind 9-12 mph SW

 

[Danand]

Well I guess someone found the dictionary

I can only reiterate what I have written in other threads. 

The Titans has a chance. Outside of "any given sunday" and all that ****, we have to recognize their playmakers in Henry and Brown. Tannehill has played well against the blitz and we blitz. They have athletic linebackers, they have a talented front seven, they have some great cornerbacks, Kevin Byard kan turn picks into points. Rain might favor the Titans, Ravens might be rusty and Titans might be red hot - all things that can lead to victory.

But

Ravens are healthy, and outside of 1 week of in the wildcard round, the Ravens blazed through the NFL with a 12 game winning streak. The offense is historic, the quarterback is the MVP and the catalyst of it all and haven't had a bad game. We have speed, power, deception and an X-factor on offense and we have put points on the board against all opponents. If Titans can claim they would be a better team with Tannehill all season, so can the Ravens claim to have a different and better defense after week 4 and even more after week 6 and a huge defensive roster turnover. We are boasting the best secondary overall measured on our 5 starters in Smith, Humphrey, Peters, Thomas and Clark and we are fielding two of the NFL's best runstoppers in Pierce and Williams, what we lack in talent from pure pass rushers, we make up for in our ability to scheme.

Ravens have faced better competition than the Titans, and we have performed better against this competition. We have the home field, we have had extra time to prepare. No one can fault us for being confident, and we should be clear favorites. 

Those who thinks Titans is the better team suffer from recency bias, but that doesn't mean the Titans can be the better team on gameday.

[TitanLegend]

Best of luck, guys. Should be fun.

[diamondbull424]

I’m sure Marcus Mariota will be running scout team QB.

But 4.52 forty for Mariota only says so much when the guy you’re imitating is a 4.3 forty guy.

Also while the Titans have a  set of coaches that I believe will look to have their squad “prepared” for the Ravens schematically the thing you can’t prepare for other than the speed of Lamar is the speed of our motions. While it’s true every team likes to create responsibilities for how you treat the option game based off alignments, those alignments change when you jet motion a TE/FB to the opposite side of the formation, but it changes so quickly that it disrupts defenders off of their rhythm and has them playing reactionary defense.

Now that the forecast has cleared up so that we can essentially expect no rain for the entirety of the game combine that with the fact that the field tarp should largely keep the field clean prior to the game... along with the 60 degree temperature and you can ask for better weather for our offense to roll.

Whats more our defenders could be out leveraged in the rain against the 49ers. Now that they will have superior footing I expect better success in containing the run. I see us positing a similar gameplan to the one we invoked against the Browns in the second matchup where we aggressively attacked the running game and trust our corners in tight coverage to shutdown the PA passes deep. I suspect AJ Brown to play the role of Jarvis Landry, but I’m sure we bracket him on occasion to disrupt his rhythm.

[drd23]

2 hours ago, Danand said:

Well I guess someone found the dictionary

[Ray Reed]

Is that forecast right? Everything i’ve seen says it’s going to be raining 

Honestly don’t have a great feeling after the last playoff game, haha

[drd23]

538 and their ELO projection system is all in on the Ravens this week

[sp6488]

5 hours ago, diamondbull424 said:

I’m sure Marcus Mariota will be running scout team QB.

But 4.52 forty for Mariota only says so much when the guy you’re imitating is a 4.3 forty guy.

Also while the Titans have a  set of coaches that I believe will look to have their squad “prepared” for the Ravens schematically the thing you can’t prepare for other than the speed of Lamar is the speed of our motions. While it’s true every team likes to create responsibilities for how you treat the option game based off alignments, those alignments change when you jet motion a TE/FB to the opposite side of the formation, but it changes so quickly that it disrupts defenders off of their rhythm and has them playing reactionary defense.

Now that the forecast has cleared up so that we can essentially expect no rain for the entirety of the game combine that with the fact that the field tarp should largely keep the field clean prior to the game... along with the 60 degree temperature and you can ask for better weather for our offense to roll.

Whats more our defenders could be out leveraged in the rain against the 49ers. Now that they will have superior footing I expect better success in containing the run. I see us positing a similar gameplan to the one we invoked against the Browns in the second matchup where we aggressively attacked the running game and trust our corners in tight coverage to shutdown the PA passes deep. I suspect AJ Brown to play the role of Jarvis Landry, but I’m sure we bracket him on occasion to disrupt his rhythm.

Mariota might have really good sprint speed for a QB, but the true place where Lamar separates himself isn’t the straight line running. It’s in the ability to start and stop on a dime and his uncanny ability to sense when a defender is off balance (huge advantage on the read option). 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

I think Dean Pees will deploy something similar to what he did in the Superbowl against Kaepernick all those years ago, where they try to hit Lamar on every read-option play. However, I think the difference will not only be that "hitting Lamar" is easier said than done, but Greg Roman is going to throw in some Play Action and take advantage of the defense selling out for the run and stopping Lamar..

Should be fun to watch. All we need to do is score-stop-score early and I think this game gets out of hand for Tennessee.

[AngusMcFife]

I think the Ravens are uniquely positioned to benefit from the bye. The Ravens were good before the bye, but only blew out the Dolphins. After the bye they destroyed the Pats, Texans, Rams, and others. 

I think a couple weeks off means they will tweak the offense again, and whatever TEN thinks they are going to see, won't be the same. 

[AngusMcFife]

4 hours ago, Ray Reed said:

Is that forecast right? Everything i’ve seen says it’s going to be raining 

Honestly don’t have a great feeling after the last playoff game, haha

I hope the weather is clear, but I wouldn't put too much stock into the forecast until around Thursday.  

[KingTitan]

2 hours ago, sp6488 said:

Mariota might have really good sprint speed for a QB, but the true place where Lamar separates himself isn’t the straight line running. It’s in the ability to start and stop on a dime and his uncanny ability to sense when a defender is off balance (huge advantage on the read option). 

Lamar is cat quick.  Mariota can run in a line like you said, but he isn't going to dart in and out like Lamar. I think Mariota's experience with the zone read should give the team a good look at what a QB that is good at it can look like. Lamar is great in the zone read, so Mariota might be able to get them use to some of the tendencies of a good QB in the system. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

2 minutes ago, KingTitan said:

Lamar is cat quick.  Mariota can run in a line like you said, but he isn't going to dart in and out like Lamar. I think Mariota's experience with the zone read should give the team a good look at what a QB that is good at it can look like. Lamar is great in the zone read, so Mariota might be able to get them use to some of the tendencies of a good QB in the system. 

Only thing Mariota won't be able to simulate (besides the obvious jukes and stuff) is throwing the football like Lamar

[KingTitan]

11 minutes ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

Only thing Mariota won't be able to simulate (besides the obvious jukes and stuff) is throwing the football like Lamar

Lol, I won't debate any of that. Even though I disagree with that. I think Marcus was in his own head more than anything but I think he is able to be a NFL QB.   

Real question though. How confident are you guys in Lamar in converting 3rd and longs consistently?

[Danand]

4 minutes ago, KingTitan said:

Lol, I won't debate any of that. Even though I disagree with that. I think Marcus was in his own head more than anything but I think he is able to be a NFL QB.   

Real question though. How confident are you guys in Lamar in converting 3rd and longs consistently?

I think we can be pretty confident. Lamar has been able to hit especially Andrews in those situations where Andrews sits down in zone or go across the middle. When Lamar buys time and roll out he has been good at finding especially Hurst towards the sideline and then we have Seth roberts who have quietly been effective in those situations.

Lamar doesn't make many throws to the outside on outbreaking routes from the pocket, and fortunately for us he hasn't been forced to do that yet.

Titans shouldn't expect him to use pump fakes to disguise throws and fool coverages as that is not a part of his game yet. Hard counts like especially Rodgers has been good at is not something he does either, so there is only little deception to his game. He is quite effective going through reads though and it is not rare that he gets the ball to his 3 and 4 read.

Edit: Ravens have won bad weather games, but in windy Buffalo both QB's had difficulties throwing. That is maybe the only game where he wasn't very effective combined with the first Steelers game, where Steelers front 4 did an insane job against our oline and their defense played really well and we couldn't stretch their defense as Marquise Brown was injured.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Danand