The stage is set. The Ravens will travel to Tennessee to face the Titans on Super Wild Card weekend. Last postseason, the sixth seeded Titans stunned the Ravens with a 28-12 victory. The Ravens will get another chance at revenge on Sunday. Here are 5 key matchups the Ravens must win to defeat the Titans and move onto the divisional round.
Derrick Henry vs the Monstars
Derrick Henry is a monster. He effortlessly ran for 2,000 rushing yards for the 1st time in his career in 2020. The Monstars (Baltimore’s starting D-Line): Calais Campbell, Brandon Williams and Derek Wolfe will have a tough task in stopping Derrick Henry. In the week 11 game against Tennessee, the Ravens defense held Henry to just 44 rushing yards through three quarters without both Campbell and Williams. The defense will need to have a similar performance to have a shot at stopping Henry from gashing them again.
Ravens rushing attack vs the Titans defense
The Ravens rushing game has been great all season and has really picked up momentum over the last month of the season. The trio of JK Dobbins, Gus Edwards and Lamar Jackson must have a good game and take advantage of the Titans’ 28th ranked defense. We have the personnel to have a strong performance, but we must stick to the running game.
Lamar Jackson vs the Titans defense
Lamar Jackson is a phenomenal player. Regardless of the critics, Jackson needs to blank out the doubters and have an amazing game. Lamar Jackson has to be Lamar Jackson. He’s no Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady. He can’t force the ball to make big plays. He has to stick to his strengths and win the game for us.
Ravens secondary vs Titans passing game
The Titans passing attack is pretty underrated due to Derrick Henry’s dominance. The Ravens secondary will have to stop AJ Brown and Corey Davis. Ryan Tannehill can just throw it up to Brown or Davis and one of them will come down with it. The Ravens can’t afford to be too concerned about Derrick Henry to forget about Ryan Tannehill and the titans passing offense.
Greg Roman vs Himself
The Ravens live and die by offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Roman is a great coordinator, but sometimes he gets in his own way. Earlier in the year, Roman’s play calling was extremely predictable and the offense suffered, but as of late, he’s been better. Roman shouldn’t try to get too pretty with his play calls, but we should come with some fresh and creative plays to keep the Titans guessing.
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