QUARTERBACK B+
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Steve McNair’s performance against his former team doesn’t even show up on the stat sheets. His poise and calming influence keeps the team’s confidence alive when they very easily could have caved. He also sees the big picture during the game allowing him to manage it properly without pressing panic buttons. His pocket evasiveness won’t show up in the stats either but it is a critical component to McNair’s game in that it keeps plays and even drives alive.
McNair was the beneficiary of ample time to throw yesterday and he made the most of it. Given time to read through his projections, McNair was able to spot and perfectly lead Ovie Mughelli on a short dump off pass in the second quarter. Mughelli was McNair’s bail out option and by perfectly placing the ball out in front of his fullback who rumbled in from 30 yards out, the Ravens cut the Titans lead to 26-14. Later in the second quarter McNair found Demetrius Williams at the nine yard line while utilizing the extra time provided by the offensive line to help set up a half ending field goal.
McNair started the Ravens scoring early in the first quarter by connecting with Mark Clayton on a 65 yard scoring strike. The play was set up by excellent ball skills not only with play action but also with a quick pump fake to Todd Heap which baited the Titans coverage enough to leave Clayton all alone downfield.
And while McNair’s 373 yards and QB rating of 90.1 were both impressive, the veteran’s day was not without its blemishes. He pulled a bit of a rookie mistake stepping on the end line for a safety and costing the Ravens 2 points with 1:05 to go in the first quarter. His decision to throw a short pass to Mark Clayton when facing a third and 13 with just over 7 minutes to go in the game was very questionable particularly since the Titans were rushing only 3 men and he had ample time to make a play elsewhere. McNair’s second interception while tipped was an ill-advised throw from the start. When trailing by 9 at the 3 minute mark of the third and facing a second and goal from the 6, McNair knows better than to force a throw when points are a certainty given the presence of Matt Stover.
RUNNING BACK: C-
Ovie Mughelli’s play in the passing game helps this grade significantly. The Ravens have no running game. None! Nine yards in the first half against a defense ranked 31st against the run is serious cause for concern. Jamal Lewis is slow to the hole and fails to accelerate through them before they close. He can’t sniff a first down on third and short runs anymore, remaining too erect while trying to find small crevices to keep drives alive. Jonathan Ogden on one run during the third quarter had the left side sealed off — a play screaming for a cutback. Lewis instead ran right into the pile much to the dismay of Ogden. Lewis has 236 yards over the past 3 games on 71 carries for an average of 3.3 yards per carry. And that comes at a time when the passing game is coming around. If it’s not time for a change it’s certainly time for some sort of rotation and open competition for the tailback position. By himself Jamal Lewis is not getting it done and there’s no evidence suggesting that the running game struggles will end any time soon with Lewis carrying the load.
RECEIVERS: B+
Mark Clayton and Derrick Mason are developing into a very dependable pair of receivers both capable of moving the chains and making tough catches while keeping their bodies under control. Mason just missed on three catches when tap dancing along the sidelines in extremely tight quarters. Mason did have one drop but came back on the very next play to pick up a first down. Clayton is working the slot very well and seems to get open at will underneath zone coverages or in crossing routes when he’s one on one with a nickel or safety. Affording Clayton that luxury in the slot is Demetrius Williams in 3 receiver sets. Williams seems to improve with each game. Williams caught a career high 4 balls yesterday for 75 yards, one a 34 yarder to set up the go ahead 11 yard scoring strike to Mason. He also helped set up the field goal at the end of the first half with an 11 yard grab showing strong, solid hands. Heap was solid in the first half showing nice adjustment to the ball but was quiet in the second half after suffering what appeared to be another ankle injury. He did have a second half drop as well.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B-
The Ravens were unable to get anything going on the ground against a defense that begs you to try. There were holes available to Jamal Lewis on occasion but they closed rapidly and Lewis no longer has the burst to get to the openings on a consistent basis. At times Tony Pashos and Keydrick Vincent were looking around for someone to block, confused by the Titans flooding the Ravens zone blocking. The unit was much better in the passing game helped in part by the Titans decision to commit more defenders in coverage and fewer to go at Steve McNair. The line did a nice job of picking up blitzes when the Titans looked to bring the heat at McNair allowing the Ravens QB to look to his hot reads.
DEFENSIVE LINE: C-
The Ravens defensive front was pushed around early in the ball game but settled later on. The Titans were able to run the ball very effectively in the first half with 117 rushing yards, 86 of those from Travis Henry. Their ability to run the football and control the line of scrimmage allowed Vince Young to use play action and misdirection. The Titans were ranked No. 28 in the league on offense heading into the game and by the end of the first half they had 267 net yards of offense. Haloti Ngata was at times ineffective but did have a key tip to force the Ed Reed interception and he showed mobility chasing down LenDale White from behind on a screen in the third quarter. Overall the unit seemed very uninspired in the first half. Terrell Suggs needs to make more of an impact when rushing the passer.
LINEBACKERS: B-
Adalius Thomas and Bart Scott like the defensive front, were both quiet early in the ball game. AD missed an opportunity for a first half sack and Vince Young made him pay when Young pitched the ball back to tight end Bo Scaife who took it in for a 13 yard score to put the Titans up 19-7. Bart Scott got caught up inside on Travis Henry’s 30 yard run in the first quarter and then shortly thereafter missed a tackle. He atoned for his mistakes later with a bone crushing hit on Henry to force a punt and with stout play supporting the run in the second half. The surprise clutch play of the day came from an unexpected source — Dennis Haley who was pressed into duty just off the practice squad when Ravens back up MLB Mike Smith went down with a shoulder separation. Haley defended a few passes and provided sure tackling while the Ravens mounted their comeback.
SECONDARY: D
Perhaps the most disturbing negative trend within the Ravens camp outside of their inability to run the football is the porous play of their highly paid secondary. Samari Rolle continues to struggle and gives far too much cushion. He was easily turned around on a relatively basic out pattern by Drew Bennett. He was targeted often by Titans’ offensive coordinator Norm Chow and the Titans won nearly every encounter. Rolle looks lost and his tackling is pathetic. On the other side, Chris McAlister gives away plenty of real estate also even on third down plays where 5 or 6 yards are needed. Receivers can easily find space to move the chains. McAlister as he so often does lost his head again, this time for a head butt to a Titan that resulted in a personal foul. The butthead play may have influenced Brian Billick not to challenge the first quarter TD run by Vince Young which looked to be short of the goal line judging from replays. Even if successful on the challenge, the Titans would have had a first and goal inside the one. Without the penalty and a successful challenge the Titans would have faced a fourth and goal and chances are that early in the game they would take the 3 points.
Later on McAlister jumped offsides on a second quarter field goal attempt that was wide left. The penalty resulted in a first down and the Titans eventually scored another touchdown to go ahead 26-7 with 9:51 still remaining in the first half. Add up both McAlister mistakes and the argument could be made that he cost the Ravens as much as 11 points.
Dawan Landry was busy blitzing and in support of the run. He had an opportunity on the Titans first drive to intercept a pass at the goal line and take it for six but dropped the INT. He also was slow to close on the ball when the Titans ran simple in routes off the corner when Landry sat back in zone coverage. Ed Reed was often out of position and tackled poorly. Instead of coming up to make the hit on Travis Henry he chose to run with him a bit and try to strip the ball. Henry added yardage to the carry as a result. Reed missed on a couple other tackles when trying to bring down tight end Bo Scaife and he missed Young on a blitzing opportunity in the red zone. After catching a gift wrapped interception, Reed put the needed turnover at risk trying to score himself after the pick. He caught the ball at the Titans 39, advanced it to the 30 then started backwards looking to find running room only to needlessly lateral the ball to Gerome Sapp who was downed at the 45. His unnecessary antics took the Ravens out of field goal range. Fortunately Steve McNair was able to get back the lost real estate leading to a field goal and cutting the Titans’ lead to 26-20.
SPECIAL TEAMS: B-
Sam Koch struggled a bit with his punts yesterday but he was successful pinning the Titans twice — once at the 2 and again at the 11. The punt coverage unit held the returns for the Titans to a net of -2 yards. The kickoff team continues to struggle. They don’t seem to get the same penetration when covering kicks that their opponents do and that may be due to a lack of hang time from Matt Stover’s kick offs. Of the 5 kick offs yesterday the resulting start point for the Titans on average was the 29 yard line. Conversely the Ravens started at the 22 after kick offs. Matt Katula was a bit off yesterday on his snaps during field goals and PATs. Give Sam Koch and Matt Stover credit for saving the final and deciding point of the game. Katula’s snap was high and behind Koch who was able to catch it and spot it while Stover adjusted to the poorly timed kick just enough to get the ball through the uprights. Stover with two field goals extended his consecutive FG streak to 36. The end of the game was eerily similar to the first loss the Titans ever had at LP Field (formerly known as Adelphia Coliseum) when Steve McNair engineered a late drive to put the Titans into field goal position against the Ravens after a QB scramble only to have Al DeGreco miss the kick. This time it was Vince Young on the keeper and this time K Rob Bironas’ FGA was blocked by Trevor Pryce.
COACHING: OFFENSE C/DEFENSE C
It isn’t often that a head coach gets a technical foul in the NFL but yesterday HC/Offensive Coordinator Brian Billick managed to get one that ultimately did not severely cost the team. Down by 9 with 9:57 to go in the third, Billick was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty costing the Ravens 15 yards. Billick needs to keep in mind that he has a couple of emotional players on his defense who can easily lose their cool and Billick’s meltdown just could have been the spark that ignited a team meltdown. He needs to be more professional. The offensive game plan was solid despite the lack of a running game. Billick adjusted and incorporated short safe throws almost as an extension of his rushing attack. The Ravens attacked downfield, on the edges and in the middle. They still need to do a better job of finishing towards the end of the game. The sequence of plays that began with the Ravens on their own 22 with 2:24 left and up by a point was sloppy even by high school standards. They managed to take only 24 seconds off the clock before being forced to punt and give the ball back to the Titans with a little less than 2 minutes left.
Defensively the Ravens looked flat to start the game and the secondary played extremely soft. Given the inexperience of Vince Young you would think that the Ravens would have been more aggressive at the line of scrimmage with the Titans receivers to disrupt Young’s timing. Instead they allowed him to find a rhythm aided in part of the comfortable spacing of the Ravens secondary. The Ravens were also caught early trying to run blitz and they were out of position helping to pave the way for Travis Henry’s successful first half. Rex Ryan’s decision to run a corner blitz with Chris McAlister nearly backfired. LenDale White went to the open space vacated by McAlister and had plenty of room to run. Young’s pass to White was short.
The Ravens will need to plan better against the Falcons. They really dodged a bullet in Nashville. Think of the Titans as the Falcons scout team Rex and make the proper adjustments. The Falcons skill players are better.
OTHER NOTABLES: The down by contact ruling by Jeff Triplette’s merry band of officials was a joke! Replays showed that the call was on the field was horribly wrong and then the crew had to determine by replay who recovered the obvious Mike Anderson fumble. Since replays could not provide irrefutable evidence of the recovery, the crew was forced to stick with the embarrassing call on the field that obviously favored the Ravens…After the Ravens punted the ball away, they held the Titans to three and out. But the Titans had other intentions. They faked the punt and after the fake and ensuing hand off to TE Ben Troupe, Troupe fumbled the ball and by rule (the offense cannot advance a fumble on fourth down) the play was dead at the spot of the fumble. The Ravens failed to capitalize on the mistake when McNair’s pass intended for Derrick Mason in the end zone was picked off…The CBS broadcast was weak although Steve Beuerlein’s work was spot on. He and Don Criqui did a nice job of explaining the rules on a few strange plays….Will Dan Cody ever play?
