Tennessee, Henry roll over Jax and Ravens
The Titans walked into Baltimore and beat the absolute hell out of the Ravens. Tennessee won 28-12 in a Divisional Round beatdown that no one expected; it wasn’t nearly as close as the final score.
Tennessee beat Baltimore at their own game with a physical performance. They ran over Baltimore’s vaunted front seven, bullied the offensive line and put the clamps on Lamar Jackson.
Once again, Derrick Henry was the star of the show for the Titans, rushing for 195 yards on 30 carries. He even threw a damn touchdown to wide receiver Corey Davis halfway through the third quarter to extend the lead to 21-6. Ryan Tannehill didn’t have to do much of anything with Henry bulldozing his way through Baltimore’s defense.
The story of the game, though, was Jackson looking nothing like the superstar he was during the regular season. Jackson’s raw statline was strong — 365 yards passing and 143 yards rushing — but he threw two interceptions and was ineffective for huge chunks of the game. The Titans’ defense largely stifled him before garbage time.
The Ravens just weren’t able to sustain a consistent passing attack. Jackson was inaccurate throwing outside the numbers, and skill players kept getting hurt and dropping the ball. It looked nothing like what had been the league’s best offense all year. Jackson hadn’t been truly slowed down like this since the first month of the season.
He looked like a 23-year-old mortal quarterback instead of a league-breaking MVP. One game won’t define his career, obviously, but it was a discouraging performance for Jackson. Back to the drawing board.
“This is my second year in the league,” Jackson said after the game. “Many people aren’t able to make it to the playoffs. I got a great team with me and we ain’t really worried about what the people are saying.”
“Disappointed that we didn’t play the kind of football we needed to win the game,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “That’ll stick with us for a long time, but we’ll move forward from here.”
Tennessee has a chance to be one of the rare No. 6 seeds that makes it all the way to the Super Bowl. Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has been a godsend this year and is orchestrating one of the best offenses in the league with Tannehill at quarterback. Tannehill threw it just 14 times — a week after just 15 attempts at New England — but the Titans still passed for three touchdowns against one of the NFL’s best defenses.
Tennessee will play either Kansas City or Houston in the AFC Championship Game. If they can handily beat Baltimore on the road, they can beat either one of those teams.