In a really disappointing game, the Titans fell to the Ravens 20-13. No one played well enough to win, and they certainly weren’t coached well enough to win.
Three Down:
Mike Vrabel: Twice, Vrabel punted when he should have gone for it. The second time he did it, in opposing territory, certainly felt like waving the white flag. The Titans coach does a lot of things well, but at times, his in-game decision-making makes you scratch your head.
Derrick Henry: 18 carries for 40 yards. Woof. An awful performance from Henry in a game where you needed him to be his best. I’m not going to belabor the point, because the Titans have gotten a lot of exceptional play out of Henry this year, but he has to be better in this situation.
Jon Robinson: The 2020 draft class did not contribute in a meaningful way this game or this year. That’s a problem. The pass rushers who were brought in to fix the pass rush did not get a single sack. Kalif Raymond is a really poor wide receiver and punt returner. However, he continues to get opportunities at both spots because Robinson has not done a good enough job getting talent at the WR spot. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as your #3 WR is not good enough.
The Titans had an opportunity to bring in Kenny Stills or a veteran pass rusher during the season, and opted to keep the guys they had. It’s unacceptable to see a guy like Brooks Reed start a playoff game and a lot of the blame for today’s result should lay at the feet of Robinson.
This offseason, the Ravens bulked up their defensive line, adding Calais Campbell and then in-season adding Yannick Ngakoue. That’s how it’s done. Add to a strength. Good news for Jon Robinson is that he’ll have plenty of opportunity to improve on weaknesses and strengths this offseason.
Three Up:
The defense: All things considered, the defense played alright today. They had four sacks in the first half and held the Ravens to just 20 points. Did they let up some brutal chunk plays? Absolutely. That being said, it was better than we’ve come to expect.
Big Truss: Unfortunately for the Titans, Lamar Jackson played a very solid game. His legs gave the Titans fits all game, and despite only having 20 points, the Ravens moved the ball effectively. Hopefully that’s the last time for a while that I’ll have to see the Ravens win a football game.
Offseason intrigue: After the first-round playoff exit, this Titans team is at a crossroads. The pass rush needs to get better. The coaching needs to improve on defense. The offense needs more game-breakers. How do they fix these things while retaining key players like Corey Davis, DaQuan Jones, and/or Jayon Brown? Who ends up as the defensive coordinator if one is hired?
One thing is for certain, the staff here at Broadway Sports will have the entire offseason covered, so make sure to stick around. We’ve enjoyed providing content all season long, and we will make sure that 2021 is even better!
Three more down from me:
I have been waiting for a specific wrinkle for Henry all year, thought maybe we were saving it for the playoffs, but that wasn’t the case. Why haven’t we ever tried running him on the Jonnu jet sweep play. We all know once Henry gets going it’s very difficult to bring him down. Conversely, if you hit him early and/or behind the line he is much more likely to crumble. Seems like a no brainer to get him moving pre-snap, then once the ball is in his hands, he’s already full speed. LOOKOUT!!
The only thing worse than the Ravens is the Ravens beating us.
Seemed like Art just went through the motions after we got up 10-0.
What happened to throwing the ball when they stack 8-9 guys up by the LOS??? Wasn’t it Vrabel that said we aren’t gonna do anything stupid and continuously run into a stacked box? This was a frustrating game to watch we seemed to play timid and tight, like this is what we’re supposed to be, so this is what we’re going nomatter what.
Well, we could have played like the Steelers. Yikes! 3 TO 12 minutes into the game.
As much as Vrabel causes an occasional head scratch, his decisions never come back to completely haunt them – They always end up with an opportunity to win the game. Besides, it was the offense’s fault that Vrabel was in those situations in the first place…
Calling Henry out when the Ravens defense dominated the line of scrimmage is a bit harsh. He could have done more, but had absolutely no chance on the majority of his carries.
The roster frustration is understandable especially so soon after a disappointing loss when many of the 2020 additions didn’t produce, but JRob has rebuilt this roster into a consistent contender. Opportunities to add Stills and a veteran pass rusher? Even if the GM decided to pass on the plethora of late season quality options, who’s to say they would have made a difference…like Clowney before them. Although it’s not ideal to have Reed starting, the defense in which he played ended up as a positive in this article…