Wow, that was a crappy first quarter. The Titans had great field position in first half. Two good returns by Carr — he’s settled in as the returner and we can now see why the Titans picked him up.
3-3 at the half — about what you’d expect in this anticipated defensive struggle. The third quarter was about as poor as the first.
The Titans offense and Brandon Jones picked it up near the end of the third quarter after Fabian Washington was injured.
KVB, Tony Brown and Albert were all hurt. A lot of subs got into the rotation. With Big Al and Brown both out, Jason Jones the only other DT active for the game. Dave Ball moved from DE to DT for a while, showing the Titans they made a good choice in keeping him. Fortunately, Albert returned to the game.
There were far too many penalties for my liking. Both Ratbird scores came after penalties on the Titans. Chris Hope was guilty of an infraction after the Ravens failed on a third-down conversion attempt. Instead of getting off the field, the Titans defense had to stop Baltimore again. They were able to hold the Rabirds to a field goal. Cortland Finnegan had two penalties called against him on the Ravens touchdown drive, although one of them was offsetting.
All three Titans scores were aided by Baltimore penalties.
If I had one thing to gripe about in the game, it would be the penalties. I’ll bet Jeff Fisher will have plenty to say about them Tuesday.
Looking at the bright side, there are several encouraging things I see. The Baltimore defense was tremendous and in my opinion there is no way the Titans offense should be criticized for not performing better. Also, Tennessee won’t face another defense that good for the rest of the season. (Unless there’s a postseason rematch with Baltimore.) If that rematch does materialize, it should occur in Tennessee.
It’s also good to go into the bye week on a winning note. Time to get a little rest and get extra time to rehab some injuries.
Next up will be the Chiefs on the road on October 19. The Panthers routed the Chiefs Sunday, 34-0. They’re certainly a rebuilding team.
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