Ravens aren’t interested in reliving past
It’s only Monday, and the Ravens have already tired of questions about that Tennessee Titans playoff game.
No, not this weekend’s wild- cardround matchup in Nashville. The other one — the divisional- round game from last January, whenthe Titans crushed the top- seeded Ravens’ Super Bowl dreams in Baltimore.
Minutes after clinching a third straight postseason appearance with a dominant win Sunday over the Cincinnati Bengals, Ravens players were asked for their feelings on a potential rematch with Tennessee, which was considered the front- runner for the AFC’s No. 4 seed.
Said safety Chuck Clark: “It doesn’t matter. We’re trying to line up with whoever we got. We’re trying to go get the job done.”
And quarterback Lamar Jackson: “It really doesn’t matter, but I’ll be grateful for whoever we play. I’m just happy we made the playoffs.”
And outside linebacker Matthew Judon: “If we have to go to Tennessee, [ or] ifwe have to go to upstate New York, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. We just have to win.”
A few hours later, Titans kicker Sam Sloman hit a 37- yard, game- winning field- goal attempt as time expired, clinching the AFC South title and setting up yet another rematch with the fifth- seeded Ravens. Sunday’s showdown will be the third meeting in less than a year; in Week 11, Tennessee overcame an 11- point thirdquarter deficit in Baltimore, and star Derrick Henry sealed a 30- 24 overtime win with a 29- yard touchdown run.
Asked Monday whether there was a “revenge factor” for his players, coach John Harbaugh said the team is “just focused on the game.”
“Previous games really have little bearing. We’ve played them many times over the years,” Harbaugh said. He mentioned how, on the bus ride back from Sunday’s win in Cincinnati, general manager and executive vice president Eric DeCosta had discussed the teams’ postseason history. The Ravens won in Tennessee in the 2000 and 2006 playoffs, and lost to the Titans at home in 2003.
“There’s just been a lot of games over the years,” Harbaugh continued. “It’s got some history, the rivalry does, sure. But what impact does any of that have on the next game? We just have to go play our best game of the year. That’s what we’re preparing to try to do.”
Which means looking at film from last season’s playoff game, and this season’s regular- season game, and a lot of other Titans games. The Ravens are preparing for the Tennessee team they’ll face in the playoffs Sunday, Harbaugh said.
“You try to put it together and try to form a plan to attack the team that they are right now,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the main thing, who they’re playing with and what they’re doing.”
Injury report
Harbaugh said he is “hopeful” that wide receiver Willie Snead IV can return for the team’s wild- card- round game against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday after missing the team’s regular- season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals with an ankle injury.
Snead, who has 33 catches for 432 yards and three touchdowns this season, injured his ankle in the team’s Week 16 win over the New York Giants. Snead, who has played in 13 games this season, did not practice lastweek.
“I think Willie’s a good option,” Harbaugh said Monday at his weekly news conference. “It’s not a given. I got the report today, it’s not a given. But I’m hopeful for Willie to be back.”
Punter Sam Koch, who was placed on the reserve/ COVID- 19 list last Wednesday, “should be available,” Harbaugh said. Koch had played in every Ravens game since the team drafted him in 2006, a franchise- record streak of 239 games, before sitting out the team’s 38- 3winover the Bengals.