Baltimore Ravens fall 23-20 to Titans: What Went Wrong and Who’s to Blame

After a 23-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Baltimore Ravens drop to 4-5 on the season, having dropped five of their last seven games, including three of their last 4.

 

The Ravens went into Tennessee as the underdogs, even after last weeks 40 point shutout against the Miami Dolphins.

 

The result yesterday was far too familiar for Ravens fans. In what was another heartbreaking loss, the defense did all it could to keep the Ravens in the game while the offense tacked on another lackluster performance.

 

The Ravens defense had a decent game against the 12th ranked rushing offense in the league. The Titans offense was held to 23 points, 14 first downs and 257 total yards(218 passing, 39 rushing).

 

The Titans scored 16 points with 5 total first downs in the first half. The two touchdowns the Ravens gave up in the first half were both off crucial mistakes by the offense and special teams. The first touchdown came after a Joe Flacco interception, while the second came on a 17-yard punt by Sam Koch. Both resulted in excellent field position for Tennessee, both in Baltimore territory for the Titans.

 

The defense played much better in the second half. They held the Titans scoreless until their final drive of the game, in which they scored the game-winning touchdown. Throughout the game, the Titans were held to just 3-11 on third downs. What hurts is that, two of those three first downs came on the Titans final scoring drive

 

Throughout the game, the Titans were held to just 3-11 on third downs. Two of those three first downs came in the fourth quarter, with less than 5 minutes to go, on the Titans final drive, in which they scored the game-winning touchdown.

 

If this isn’t a pure example of the lack of luck for the Ravens, I don’t know what is. Not only were they out of luck, they received little help from the offense.

 

The Ravens 28th ranked offense failed to score a touchdown in the first half for the 5th time this season vs. Tennessee, losing in all 5 of those games.

 

During the first half, the Ravens were unable to run the ball effectively on the Tennessee front, and completely abandoned the run game and focused on the passing attack. On the day, Alex Collins and Javorius Buck Allen combined for 20 rushes for 64 yards,

 

Flacco threw for 261 yards, dropping back 52 times for 34 completions(66%), averaging 7 yards a completion. Flacco also threw 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter and 2 interceptions, bringing this year’s totals to 8 and 10. This is just the second time this season Joe has thrown for two or more touchdowns, first since week 2 against the Browns.

 

Jeremy Maclin was Flacco’s favorite target yesterday, totaling 8 receptions for 98 yards.

 

Surprisingly, first round draft pick Breshad Perriman was targeted 6 times today. And he made his case for the biggest draft bust in Ravens history as he continues to struggle. He had as many receptions as he did drops, one on a key third down and one which led to an interception. In his two seasons, Perriman has had more drops(11) than touchdown receptions(3). Perriman’s catch percentage in the past two seasons is 35%.

If you have a player that is doing his job 35% of the time whilst getting paid millions to do so, why keep him giving him chances? When will the Ravens stop giving him chances?

 

Here are some key offensive stats:

Category/Team Baltimore Ravens Tennessee Titans
Total Yards

Rushing:

Passing:

341

73

268

257

71

186

Time of Possession 32:22 27:38
First Downs 24 14
Third Down efficiency 6/16-37% 3/11-27%
Red zone efficiency 2/4-50% 3/3 100%
Turnovers 2 1
Average starting position BAL 25 TEN 33

 

The Ravens had the ball for 5 minutes more than Tennessee, they had 84 more yards and 10 more first downs than Tennessee. It’s not often that a team leads in these three categories and ends up with a loss. But what hurt the Ravens the most is their inability to turn red zone trips into touchdown drives. In their 4 trips to their redzone, the team came out with a FG, two late TDs and a turnover on downs.

Who’s to blame?

 

Some people will put the blame on yesterday’s loss on either the poor officiating, Joe Flacco or even the fact that our pass rush was almost non-existent yesterday; these are all fair as they did all have somewhat of an impact on the outcome of the game, but the reason for yesterday’s loss is the same reason for the Ravens offensive struggles throughout the season.

 

Marty Mornhinweg.

Marty Mornhinweg address media at a press conference in Owning Mills, MD. No copyright intended.

Under Marty, the Ravens are in the bottom half of the rankings when it comes to yards per game(30th), pass yards per game(31st), points per game(21st), total first downs(17th) and red zone scoring(16th). Marty’s only success this season has been running the football, as the Ravens are 5th in rushing this season.

 

My two biggest problems with Marty are his use of personnel and play calling.

 

Use of Personnel

 

Breshad Perriman has been a part of 275 plays entering the game vs. Tennessee. In those 275 snaps, he’s been targeted just 20 times, with only 4 receptions for 26 yards. In the first four games, he caught 2 balls out of the 13 thrown to him. Not only is he dropping balls, he’s taking the spot of other more productive players like 2nd-year receiver, Chris Moore.

Moore in 159 fewer snaps than Perriman has 5 receptions on 15 targets(0 drops) for 80 yards with a TD.

 

Although he has done more than Perriman, Marty continues to give Perriman more snaps and targets.

 

Now to be fair the offense does lack explosive playmakers.

 

The biggest playmaker on the team right now is Alex Collins, who is also 9th in rushing this season. Besides Collins, there are other players that can do the job. What is expected from Marty is that he finds ways to put them in the best position to execute their jobs.

 

An offensive coordinator is supposed to take into account his personnel, know his players and what talents, skills and ability they bring and create plays that they can actually execute. And Marty Mornhinweg has not done that.

 

Playcalling

Joe Flacco’s pass per attempt this season stands at 4.8, which is dead last for QBs in this league and much of this is thanks to Marty’s passive play calling.  

 

Besides injuries, playcalling has been the offense’s biggest problem.

 

Marty’s playcalling has been one of the most conservative and bipolar playcalling I’ve seen throughout the league.

 

Even with speedy receivers like Mike Wallace, Jeremy Maclin, and Chris Moore, he continues to prioritize the conservative short passing game. The offense’s total yards per play is 4.4, which is 2nd worst in the league.

 

It’s not like the Ravens haven’t been had any aggressive play calling this season. They play best when the play calling is aggressive and balanced.

 

Against the Vikings, the Ravens scored their first touchdown of the game as the clock expired. Flacco in that drive went 9/12 for 78 yards with a TD pass.

 

In yesterday’s loss, the Ravens scored their two touchdowns in the 4th quarter. Joe Flacco went 10/17 for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns.

 

Both these games resulted in losses.

 

Last week, the Ravens found success in their running game, rushing 35 times for 168 yards. But this week instead of going with the momentum and run/pass attack balanced, Marty chose to throw the ball 31 times more than running it.

 

I don’t see why the play calling can’t stay aggressive and consistent throughout all 4 quarters. The Ravens are 11th in points in the 4th quarter but loom in the bottom 15 throughout the first 3 quarters.

 

This needs to change as consistency in scoring is needed from this team henceforth. Marty has to do a better job being creative with the playcalling taking into account his players abilities and skills.

 

The key to the Ravens success on offense is through the consistent, balanced and aggressive play calling throughout all four quarters.

 

I don’t expect him to be let go before the season’s over but now that Gary Kubiak, who has created success for the offense in the past, is willing to return to coaching as an offensive coordinator, It’d be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

The Ravens are currently in 2nd place in the AFC North, 3 games behind the Pittsburgh Steelers.

                                                                                   AFC North Table   

 

Playoff contention is not out of sight yet; As only two out of their next 7 opponents hold winning records, the Ravens are still in control of their fate.

 

Heading into the bye week, the team needs to prioritize health and offensive improvements before traveling to Green Bay to face Brett Hundley and the 4-3 Packers.

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Nahom Nega

I'm a current freshman at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, majoring in Media and Communications and Finance. I'm a huge Ravens, Wizards, Arsenal, Retrievers, Blue Devils and Lebron Fan. I've been writing for MD Sports Blog since October of 2017.

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