Titans at Ravens Recap

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For the span of about 20 football minutes on Week 10 Sunday the 2-6 Tennessee Titans looked like a real football team against the 5-4 Baltimore Ravens. Alas, it was only a mirage as the Titans reverted to form and handed the Ravens a rather easy win 7-21 in Baltimore. We bring you our Titans at Ravens recap.

In two games as a starter rookie Zach Mettenberger has shown you the reasons why he could have been a higher draft pick. Unfortunately, he also shows you some of why he fell a bit in the draft as well. Mettenberger isn’t the most mobile of quarterbacks and with an offensive line that is struggling it has led to seven sacks through two games. He has gone 45 of 73 for 495 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

This game was by far his worst of the season. Certainly the offensive line struggled and the right side of the line was absolutely terrible but Mettenberger didn’t do a good job reading the field or finding open receivers. The wide receivers generally did a pretty good job running routes and getting open but Mettenberger was under pressure a lot. This sack was completely on him.

After reviewing the game again, the Titans offensive line was worse than I initially thought. There is no good explanation for how poorly it is playing this year. There are certainly injuries at tight end and Craig Stevens is very underrated as a blocker. New Titans tight end Richard Gordon is a very willing blocker and he did some nice things in this game. There is still room for improvement however.

On defense, things remain largely the same. The inside linebackers continue to play extremely well and rookie Avery Williamson is everything we wrote he could be. However, outside linebacker Derrick Morgan made one of the plays of the game with this sack on Joe Flacco.

It wasn’t a good game for Kam Wimbley and he missed a tackle on a Justin Forsett that led to a touchdown. Michael Griffin continues to play whiffleball while Blidi Wreh-Wilson was flagged once again this time for defensive holding. This is obviously a trend and I’m sure both players would rather be playing better. They aren’t however.

Here are some defensive rankings for Titans defenders:

The defensive line has been solid though there is still room for improvement particularly in run defense. The linebackers are solid but they will need to upgrade at right outside linebacker. It is the secondary that is struggling the most. Outside of extending the playing time for Daimion Stafford and/or Marqueston Huff, there really isn’t a lot they could do except let them play through it.

The playcalling went conservative in the second half but after watching the film it’s difficult to complain too much. There are still some odd calls and Whisenhunt remains committed to Leon Washington as his third down back. Jackie Battle saw a bit more playing time. I love Karl Klug but more him on defense and well none please on offense.

The officiating was as bad as you might expect from a Titans and Ravens game. From the questionable call on Justin Hunter to the missed facemask call on Zach Mettenberger to the no call on the hit on Delanie Walker the Titans were on the wrong end of the stick. However, they got away with a safety so it’s fair to say there wasn’t a conspiracy just incompetence.

After the game I asked Titans fans to weigh in as I usually do. The following are the responses:

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