Tennessee mounts overtime comeback
BALTIMORE — Three hundred and sixteen days after the Ravens last hosted the Titans, the vibe was dramatically different.
This wasn’t the AFC divisional round – where the Titans in January stunned the Ravens (6-4) to advance to the AFC championship game – but Sunday’s game still held big implications for the 2020 AFC playoff picture.
But no fans in the stands prevented M&T Bank Stadium from rocking – even as the game progressed from a sleepy first half to a competitive second half to an exciting overtime.
Under a cloudy sky, in front of empty stands, the Titans fought through injuries to a number of key players to escape with a 30-24 win.
Here are five observations as Tennessee improved to 7-3:
A.J. Brown, YAC monster
Wide receiver A.J. Brown continues to prove a point: He’s really, really difficult to bring down after the catch.
A number of Ravens defenders learned that the hard way in the waning moments of Sunday’s game. Brown caught a pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill at the 10-yard line before breaking four tackles and dragging a defender into the end zone with him.
Brown has had a few uncharacteristic drops recently, but he made amends with that touchdown that put the Titans up 24-21 inside three minutes.
Henry does it to the Ravens again
The Ravens did well to stifle running back Derrick Henry in the first half, holding him to 37 yards.
But Henry got going late, keying the Titans’ comeback effort in the second half before providing the exclamation point in overtime: a 29-yard rushing touchdown that gave Tennessee the win. It was his 50th career rushing touchdown.
Henry finished with 28 carries for 133 rushing yards to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards for the third straight season. It was his fifth game eclipsing 100 rushing yards this season.
All of this after Henry ran 30 times for 195 yards to help the Titans end the Ravens’ 2019 season in the divisional round of last season’s playoffs.
Titans defense steps up in the clutch
After two straight games that saw the Titans take two steps in the right direction concerning their third-down defense, the issues resurfaced Sunday.
The Ravens were 9-for-15 converting on third down. Tennessee entered ranked second-worst in the league on third downs, allowing opponents to convert 53.2% of the time.
Still, the Titans prevented the Ravens from converting on third down when it mattered most – in overtime. And they also were solid defensively in the red zone.
They entered allowing opponents to score touchdowns on 74.3% of their redzone trips – fifth-worst in the NFL. But they held the Ravens to 1-for-4 in the red zone Sunday.
No special teams mistakes
This time, the Titans’ performance on special teams was not their undoing.
In fact, it helped keep them in it. Stephen Gostkowski entered with a leaguehigh eight misses on field goals, but he was 3-for-3 on his attempts Sunday.
Trevor Daniel wasn’t exactly lights out on his punts – he averaged 46.5 on his two punts – but he was at least OK. That constitutes significant improvement after last week’s punting disaster.
Injuries piling up
It’s that time of the year when most NFL rosters are dotted with injuries. For the Titans, they’re really piling up.
They entered with three starters inactive because of injury in safety Kenny Vaccaro, left guard Rodger Saffold and wide receiver Adam Humphries. A day earlier, the Titans placed starting outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney on injured reserve.
A number of other starters were injured Sunday. Inside linebacker Jayon Brown left with an elbow injury and did not return. Same for Ty Sambrailo, who became was injured and didn’t return, prompting David Quessenberry to replace him.