The Tennessee Titans got a taste of their own medicine Sunday.
Near the bitter end of a 20-13 season-ending loss at Nissan Stadium, the Baltimore Ravens mocked and mimicked them in an oh-so-familiar fashion.
With the Titans needing a touchdown to keep the season alive, quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a pass that ended up in the hands of cornerback Marcus Peters, who was in the right place when the intended target, Kalif Raymond, went to the ground.
Peters led a group charge to the Titans’ logo at midfield, where most of the 11 members of the Ravens’ defense danced and waved in the direction of their opponent’s sideline. It was a clear response to Week 11, when the teams got into a pregame confrontation after the Titans ran out of the tunnel and to the Ravens’ logo at M&T Bank Stadium.
The first time, Titans coach Mike Vrabel and Ravens coach John Harbaugh exchanged words and had to elaborate on it postgame. This time, Vrabel had little to add.
“No. I coach the Titans,” he said. “Not the Ravens.”
Right tackle Dennis Kelly seemed to be a bit confused as to why the Ravens made such a big deal about what happened at midfield before the regular season meeting. He said that running to midfield is something the Titans have done before each game since Mike Mularkey, who Vrabel replaced in 2018, was head coach.
“I mean it’s whatever,” Kelly said. “I don’t know where that whole ‘it’s disrespectful’ thing came from. We’ve literally done that since Mularkey has been here, going to midfield.
“So, if that’s the tool that Harbaugh wanted to use to motivate his team, it must’ve worked. It is what it is.”
The Ravens, of course, had plenty of reasons to be motivated entering Sunday’s matchup after losing each of their previous two meetings against the Titans, the first of which was last January in the AFC Divisional Round. But it’s possible that the pregame festivities from November struck a chord with the Ravens to the point where they did not forget about it.
“This was an emotional football game, and sometimes you just act out of emotion,” Ravens defensive end Derek Wolfe said. “And I felt like it was a good time to go ahead and do that, so we did it. It wasn’t a disrespect thing. It was more like a team-unity thing; like we accomplished something as a team, so we’re going to go out there and take a little bit of revenge, I guess. But I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Added Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson, “We didn’t see what went on before the game the last time we played those guys. They were standing on our logo and got into it with our coach, so that was disrespectful.”
The Ravens punched the Titans in the mouth on both sides of the ball in the victory, specifically defensively.
Tennessee had its worst offensive showing of the season, scoring just 13 points while amassing 209 yards of offense in all. Derrick Henry was the league’s best running back this season and became the eighth player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards. He had rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the last two meetings with the Ravens. And historically, Henry’s size and strength takes an obvious toll on defenses throughout the game.
On Sunday, however, the Ravens’ physical defense didn’t give much ground. That unit surrendered just 40 yards to Henry.
The Titans and the Ravens have been a sneaky good rivalry matchup since the early 2000s, but the two meetings this season were particularly heated and tense.
So tense, in fact, Jackson saw little reason for the Ravens to shake hands with Titans players after the game. Many members of the Ravens were seen running for the tunnel and to the locker room as soon as the game went final.
“… We treat all our opponents with respect,” he said. “There was no reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that. We were the bigger guy. So, we just walked off the field. I feel like we were being the bigger guy.”
And the victory for Harbaugh was so sweet, he considers it as one of the best of his career.
“I’m just going to say because it had so much meaning for our guys and for us together,” he said. “The things that we’ve been through together this year and how our guys have responded, how our leaders have led and how our guys have stuck together.
“All the things that really matter, all the things that aren’t always counted on the scoreboard, but are counted in life, that you remember for the rest of your life, those are the things that give it meaning.”
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