AFC Divisional Playoff: Ravens 13, Titans 10

PREGAME
We're just a few minutes away from a potential battle for Rams' head coach between Rex Ryan of Baltimore and Jim Schwartz of Tennessee. This bears to be a very interesting game for Rams fans to keep an eye on. If Schwartz can't make Joe Flacco look like Ryan made Chad Pennington look last week, he drops down the list.

Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf on the call for CBS.

FIRST QUARTER
Oh, how creative. The Titans gave their fans TOWELS to wave around. Bet no team ever thought of that idea, huh. Though I'm riding Tennessee in the football pool, I half hope Baltimore wins and stomps one of those things in the ground after the game. Poor recognition of karmic risk by the Titans' PR people, remembering what Titans did to a Pittsburgh towel after their regular season meeting.

I believe the Titans deferred and kick off. They bury Tom Zbikowski WITH A DEEP KICK and the Ravens will start from their 20. Why has no Rams special teams coach in the 14 years they've been here appreciated the value of a simple deep kick?
LeRon McClain left for 6 while I was whining about the Rams' kickoff game.
Tony Brown, one of the league's underappreciated DTs, drops McClain for a 4-yard loss.
Draw to McGahee for 3. Boy, they're sure protecting Flacco early. If he's that big a liability in Cam (Camtastic) Cameron's mind today, you can forget the Ravens right now.

Terry McAulay is today's referee. The Titans commit a dumb penalty on the punt return and start back at their 22.
Kerry Collins to Justin McCareins for about 15, as Samari Rolle slipped to give McCareins extra yards.
Chris Johnson runs into a big pile of Haloti Ngata for a loss. 2nd-11.
Johnson up the middle again, not surprisingly, for nothing again. Race Bannan on the tackle. 3rd-10.
Delay of game on the Titans. That's a crisp offense Mike Heimerdinger has running right now. BTW, can that guy ever hope to be hired as a head coach anywhere with the last name "Heimerdinger"?
Collins' 3rd-down pass is incomplete, beyond Justin Gage, who appeared to have a little trouble changing direction on the slick turf.

I should have mentioned at the top that it's raining in Tennessee. Defensive battle is well underway. There's going to be more 123-kicking today than at a Rockettes practice.

Ravens from their 20 after Craig Hentrich's punt finds the end zone. Flacco can't find anybody open and impressively runs through a couple of Titans for a 2-yard gain.
McClain runs into a pile for a small loss. 3rd-8. McClain averaging a foot a carry right now.
Illegal shift on Baltimore erases a play that would have been a first down. Cortland Finnegan tipped a high pass right to him on the sideline, but it went to Marcus Smith. 3rd-14, though.
Draw to McGahee as Camtastic Cameron continues to just waste our time. Let's just say I'm real happy I went with Tennessee at this point.

Titans take over at their 35.
Here's why the Titans drafted Chris Johnson. He gets a pass in the flat, puts a fake on Bart Scott and speeds downfield for 28. That's followed by a short pass to Alge Crumpler for a couple. I'm not sure why Mike Martz didn't accomplish with Trung Canidate what the Titans already have with Chris Johnson. If he's interviewed here, that's a question for Billy Devaney to ask.
After a short Johnson run, Collins overthrows an open Gage by a mile on a fly route down the Tennessee sideline. Samari Rolle bailed him out with an illegal contact penalty, though, on the Ravens' side of the field.
Titans at the Raven 28, where Lendale White gets stuffed by Terrell Suggs. But Collins next hits Gage on a curl-in inside the 10, beating Fabian Washington. 1st-goal at the 8.
Chris Johnson sweeps right for an 8-yard TD to put Tennessee ahead 7-0, though I swear his knee touched down at the 2. Shades of Eddie George in SB34. Baltimore is not tackling nearly as well as they customarily do.
Rob Bironas kicked the PAT even though Frank Walker jumped so far offside for the Ravens, he ran past the ball after Bironas kicked it. Not sure why Bironas had to kick it again, but he did. He'll kick off from the 35 after that penalty.

Also, this game may already be over. Not with the complete lack of trust Cameron has in his QB. They'd better get it moving on the ground.

Bironas blasts the kickoff into the crowd. Ravens will start at their 20 again.
Flacco saves a sack with a backward pass to McClain, who makes up for completely failing to pick up Jevon Kearse by taking off for 8. Neal gains 1 to make it 3rd-and-1.
Boy is Flacco strong, moving the pile for 3 yards on the QB sneak for Baltimore's first 1st down.
Quick slant to Derrick Mason for 8, and add 15 for Jason Jones hitting Flacco in the head. Just like that, Baltimore's across midfield.
McClain cuts a run back nicely for 6, but Mason's called for holding. 1st-18 from the Raven 47.
Flacco has all day after a play-fake but Mark Clayton can't stay in bounds with the catch.
McClain DROPS a screen that looked promising. 3rd-18.
Ravens waste a timeout with the play clock running down.
Kyle Vanden Bosch jumps roughly a mile offside to make it 3rd-13.
Flacco steps up in the pocket and hits the incredible Derrick Mason perfectly up the Ravens sideline for a TD to tie the game at 7. Atrocious coverage of Mason. The CB gave him up after about 5 yards with nobody else remotely in his area to cover, and Chris Hope was woefully late in deep support. Atrocious, atrocious, atrocious.

Cameron saves his butt by trusting his QB a little bit.

Chris Carr across the 27 with the kick return.
Neat cutback right by Johnson for 9. He has cartoon-quick feet.
Johnson explodes up the middle for 32 more as the first. quarter ends. Terrific pancake block by Michael Roos set that up. Titans will start the 2nd quarter at the Baltimore 32.

SECOND QUARTER
Quick 7 yards to McCareins. I spend the next five minutes fighting the Blogger editor again over line feeds and boldface mode.
Screen pass is incomplete with Bart Scott blitzing in untouched.
3rd-3, it's a stupid TE screen to Bo Scaife that appears to lose 5. Jim Leonhard one of many Ravens all over it.
I haven't followed the Titans much this year, which hurts me in understanding what's happening next. Rob Bironas is one of the NFL's best kickers but Jeff Fisher, as he's done several times this year, is bypassing a makeable (48 yard) FG attempt to go for it on 4th down. And EIGHT?
Collins muffs the shotgun snap on 4th down and the ball caroms around until he falls on it for an 8-yard loss. Good thing Fisher didn't go for that FG, eh?

Baltimore at their 38. Jacob Ford jumps about TWO miles offside. I have never seen as many ridiculous offsides than I have already in this game. That is at least the NINTH penalty of this game, btw.
Flacco to Mason for 12.
McClain off right guard for 3. He stays down injured.
2nd-7, Flacco rolls left and gets FOREVER to throw again. Hayes hits him from behind to force an incomplete pass.
Flacco pumps deep on 3rd down and tries to throw short but David Thornton knocks it down.
All the same, Baltimore's line is giving Flacco a TON of time to throw today.
Sam Koch's punt checks up brilliantly at the 2 to pin the Titans deep.

O-line false start makes it 1st-11 at the 1 now for Tennessee.
HOO, Johnson hesitates IN THE ENDZONE but emerges over the left side for a couple.
Johnson DANCES IN THE ENDZONE AGAIN and has to make a desperation dive just to get across the goal line. OK, he had to dance because Terrell Suggs completely dominated Alge Crumpler.
Fullback Ahmad Hall takes a swing pass out across the 12 for a FIRST DOWN, unforgivably bad defense by Baltimore. Ray Lewis blew Hall's helmet off his head with a thuggish, penalizable forearm shiver but he stayed upright. Lewis took a swing at Hall after the play and didn't get a penalty for that, either.
Then Tennessee gets a penalty for a blow to the head while the Ravens are maliciously trying to bend Johnson in half backwards after a short run. Exact same call they should have called on Lewis the previous play!
I hate this sequence of refereeing. They're letting Baltimore play rough and not giving Tennessee the same benefit.
Looks like it's 1st-and-13 at the 9 - CBS apparently has no idea (try reading the scoreboard!) - and Johnson gets most of it on a sweep right. 2nd-3.
White up the middle for 1.
On 3rd down, Collins hits Gage over the middle with a quick pass at the 30 for a first down.
Gage wide open deep over the middle for 25, beating a blitz. C'mon, Rex Ryan!
Collins is 9-for-11.
Johnson jukes out of a 4-yard loss and gains 4 off the left side. I like this kid.
Blitz up the middle is picked up handily as Collins hits Scaife for 8. How 'bout it, Rex?
Suggs sacks Collins at the 40 - gotta get rid of that ball, Kerry - but stays down injured as the Titans fans CLASSLESSLY cheer. 2nd-16 as we go to break.

Hey, Miller Lite, what kind of wuss is going to spend nine hours watching football this weekend when there's FOUR games on? I'm in it for 13-14, baby!

5:30 till halftime. Gage open again on a curl-in for 13. Hey Ryan, your defense is getting chewed up here.
Collins gets surprised by a shotgun snap again - does the CENTER not know the snap count? White does not get the first down on the draw, but it's all coming back for an illegal shift. 3rd-8.
Big blitz by Ryan in a non-blitz situation pays off, as Collins chucks a dying quail that Rolle picks off at the 10.

Baltimore at their 12 with 4:07 left. McClain up the middle for 2.
Kearse grabs McClain's shoulder pad in the backfield for a loss. 3rd-10.
Titans bring the blitz in a non-blitz situation now, and Flacco nearly burns them with a sideline bomb to Mason, who barely misses keeping his feet in bounds in catching the rocket pass.
Penalty spoils midfield field position for Tennessee. They'll start at their 28 with 2:24 left.

White off right guard for a couple as we reach the 2:00 warning.
Collins to Gage again, for 18 out to the 48. Rex Ryan is turning Justin Gage into Larry Fitzgerald.
And he's turning Kerry Collins into Drew Brees, 12-for-15 after throwing a 1st down pass away out of bounds.
With Ray Lewis blitzing, Collins hits Scaife for 14 to the Raven 39. Hmm, who saw that play coming last week?
Collins to Fitz-, um, Gage, for 11 more. They're at the Raven 27 with 0:51 to go.
Good coverage this time as Rolle has Gage blanketed in the end zone. Collins had to rush the throw after Lewis knocked Crumpler ON HIS ASS on the blitz.
Timeout, Ravens?, with 0:45 left.
Collins hits Scaife at the 22 with 0:36 left. Should be 3rd and about 5.
DRAW to White, who gets the first down, BUT LOSES THE BALL and Jim Leonhard recovers it.

That's a blown snap on 4th down, an INT and a fumble for the Titans this half in certain scoring position. How much credit ought we give Rex Ryan for that?

Flacco kneels out the clock, and it's 7-7 at halftime. Certainly not unexpected.

I am shocked at the success Tennessee is having passing so far. Baltimore, as I worried last week, has to blitz to get any kind of pressure on Collins. He's hitting Gage moreso than his TEs, but even the Raven blitz isn't getting enough pressure on Collins thanks to topnotch blocking. Ryan better come up with some creative schemes after halftime - they have been absolutely vanilla so far compared to last week - or he doesn't need to bother interviewing with Billy Devaney tomorrow as far as I'm concerned. Tempting though it may be, I would encourage Tennessee not to abandon the run. If they stick with it, Johnson's going to break one big. I look for them to smoke Raven blitzes with draws in the 2nd half. And I can't believe the Ravens are going to keep pulling these red-zone turnovers out of their ass. Tennessee's dominating this game on offense but they've gotta FINISH.

Tennessee's not getting that much pressure on Flacco, either, JIM SCHWARTZ, but they are shutting down the run. I'd like to see Baltimore get Willis McGahee in the game more as a change of pace, and they need to get the ball to Todd Heap, who hasn't even gotten a LOOK yet. Cameron's gotta put some speed on the field in McGahee, trust Flacco and open up the offense. Too many two-receiver routes are getting shut down by the Titan secondary right now (despite their terrible coverage on the Mason TD).

THIRD QUARTER
Chris Carr all the way out to the 40 with the kick return.
Collins had 177 yards passing at halftime.
White to the left for maybe 1.
Short sideline pass DROPPED by McCareins.
Ravens blitz big and Gage DROPS the too-short-anyway pass over the middle.
Hentrich's punt bounces into the end zone, and Baltimore was holding for the FOURTEENTH penalty of the game. Both teams need to clean that up in a hurry.

Ravens from their 10. McGahee's in to start the half, but can only stutter for 1 up the middle.
Mason makes a diving catch of a low pass for 10. First down. Great catch!
The Ravens unnecessarily rush the next play and McGahee loses one around right end.
Smoke route to Mason gets a whole yard back.
With KVDB clinging to his foot, Flacco finds Heap over the middle for 15 but the TE bobbles and DROPS the pass.
Well, at least they're trying to do what I tell them.

Poor punt will start the Titans at their 46.
White takes a pass over the middle, breaks a tackle and runs away for about 20. Big play, and Baltimore is already in need of a big play on D.
Maybe a yard for White, who's going to get a lot of action with Johnson apparently injured on the sideline. Ankle injury; no idea when it happened, but it may really hurt. The Titans, I mean, not just Johnson.
White over the left side for a couple.
3rd-7, Collins hits Scaife on the sideline but a good two yards short of the first down.
Tennessee brings Bironas in for a FG two yards shorter than the attempt they bypassed in the 1st half, but Baltimore is now challenging the 3rd down catch. Apparently the wind is figuring in big in Fisher's kicking decisions, and it's at the Titans' backs right now.
Good challenge by Harbaugh. The referee didn't get a good look at the catch because he had to dodge the players, and replay reveals Scaife was bobbling it. Bironas' try will be from 51.

And he misses wide left. Ravens take over at their 41. Harbaugh's challenge may be a turning point in this game.

Inside handoff to McClain loses a couple, stuffed by Jacob Ford.
Play action bomb is beyond Clayton, with Finnegan almost coming up with it. 3rd-11.
Ravens have to blow a timeout again with the clock running down. This has to come back to bite them, doesn't it?
Great coverage downfield and a creative staggered 4-man rush by Schwartz, and Flacco has to dump it off for a meager gain.
Titans jump a mile offside on the punt, but it's still 4th-and-2.
Koch's punt finds the end zone to start Tennessee at their 20.

Play-action bomb for Gage is well-overthrown, and Washington had it well-covered anyway. 2nd-10.
Johnson is parka-bound on the sideline and is apparently done for the day after averaging over 6.5 a rush in the first half. White gets stuffed for no gain on 2nd down. He is averaging 1.38 a carry.
3rd-10, Collins' back-foot slant pass attempt is knocked down by Rolle.

Pausing for a second to note the high quality of Dierdorf's analysis today. He's been all over everything.

After I spend five minutes re-establishing my freaking Internet connection, Baltimore takes over at their 39. Well set-up screen to Lorenzo Neal for 7.
With the WRs wandering around like they have no idea what's happening, Baltimore has to blow ANOTHER time out. Cam-tastic! One TO left for the last 21:30.
Inside handoff to McGahee for 4 and a first down at the 50.
McGahee again, up the middle for 6.
McGahee loses a foot off the left side. Titans ignore the fake end-around. 3rd-5.
Mason, who's been a true football hero the last four weeks, DROPS the third down pass. Yeah, Nick Harper got a hand in there, but there's little excuse for Mason not to bring that down.

Titans start from their 15. Circle route to White for 5.
Sideline pass to Gage for 6 and a first.
White off the right side for a couple.
Wild throwaway by Collins with the Titans flagged for holding anyway. Jarret Johnson was right in Collins' face. Samari Rolle goes down and limps off the field, I'm guessing a groin injury from his gait.
2nd-19. Draw to White gets about 5.
I called Rolle's groin injury correctly!
Big blitz by Baltimore in a non-blitz situation, and Collins throws it well short of McCareins' corner route to force another punt.
Big return by Leonhard on that punt, 29 yards all the way to the Tennessee 41. This game is slowly tilting in the Ravens' favor. I'm not going 1-for-4 AGAIN this week, am I?

Flacco overthrows Clayton at the 30. Now Jevon Kearse is down. What is the Tennessee crowd booing for? Are they that big a bunch of idiots? Maybe there was a dirty play TV missed.
2nd-10. With Flacco getting all day to throw yet again, both Finnegan and Hope fall on a lob to Clayton that should have been picked off. Clayton catches it at the 4-yard line instead. Play of the game so far. Albert Haynesworth now limps off injured for the Titans, who are in Titanic trouble.
First and goal. McClain dives for a couple down to the 3. He limps off now. This game has gone beyond hard-hitting. How can either team expect to win next week, no matter where they're playing?
Big play by Keith Bulluck, getting his name called for the first time all day, penetrating into the backfield to drop McGahee for a 4-yard loss. Third and goal, Ravens, from the 7 as the third quarter ends.

What an amazing game.

FOURTH QUARTER
A very exciting play gains just 4. The Titans flush Flacco, he scrambles and hits McGahee at the 10; he then cuts back across the middle and looks dangerous but they bring him down.
Matt Stover hits from 22 to put the Ravens ahead 10-7. Time for Collins to get cracking.

Chris Carr is a heckuva good kick returner, bringing this one out to the 36. He does a nice job of running patiently while also spotting openings upfield and hitting them.

Collins to White for 14 out to midfield. Looks like that was an intended screen that Baltimore initially blew up.
White around right end for 11. Are the Ravens tiring out?
Collins pumps and throws a deep incompletion. Sloppy, Walker had a chance to pick it off.
Pretty readable draw to QUINTON GANTHER loses at least one. Remember back to August, when Ganther was running all over the Ram defense like he was Walter Payton?
3rd-11. Ravens rush 4, and Gage burns them with that curl-in again, making a leaping catch for 15. Looked like he was playing the high post on that play.
White gains 1 around right end after nearly getting hauled down by Lewis for a big loss.
2nd-9 at the Raven 25. Ravens blitz big and force Collins to throw it away.
The Ravens blitz big again in a non-blitz situation and Collins burns them with a slant to Gage down to the 14. Sorry, but Rex Ryan is not impressing me today. He impressed me a lot more against Miami last week.
White's stuffed up the middle yet again, 2nd-9.
Collins hits Crumpler with a short pass, and HE LOSES THE BALL in midair after getting upended by Leonhard at the 5. THE RAVENS RECOVER AT THE ONE.

That's the FOURTH TIME the Titans have been in scoring position today and come away with nothing. That's way too many. The Ravens get a first down here, it's over.

After a false start, Flacco sneaks for a couple. 2nd-8 from the 3. Ryan Fowler nearly drops McClain for a safety. 3rd-10 from the 1. Look for another sneak. 11 rushes for McClain today for 12 yards.
On 3rd down, Flacco drops deep and appears to step on the back line... maybe not, a blocker crossed my line of vision. I'm really surprised Tennessee does not challenge. They must have a better angle. Also, the announcers think nothing's fishy; they wouldn't miss that. 7:34 left in the game, and Koch will be punting from the back of the end zone. Brandon Jones muffs the return but recovers it and is taken down at the 42.

To overstate the obvious, Tennessee HAS to come away with points here.

Collins to Brandon Jones for 11. Carry that ball tighter, Brandon.
Nice cutback by White, who roars inside the 20.
White off left tackle for 3, down to the 16.
Bart Scott DRILLS White in the flat for a loss on a swing pass. 3rd-10.
Ravens rush 3, and Collins finds Gage underneath. Lewis and two DBs appear to stop him a foot or two short. Yep, 4th and a couple of feet. On comes Bironas with 4:35 left.
He ties the game 10-10 with about a 29-yard FG. More overtime on the way this postseason?

Zbikowski's only out to the 24 with the kick return, as I'm almost caught up with live time again.
McGahee bounces outside for about 6. 4:00 left.
Same play, with McGahee gaining 2.
3:00 left. With a big fat zero showing on the play clock, Flacco hits Heap over the middle for 23 to the strains of a remarkably loud HEAP cry from apparent Ravens fans.
HOW CAN THE OFFICIALS MISS THE PLAY CLOCK RUNNING OUT AT SUCH A CRUCIAL JUNCTURE?
False start, Ravens, making it 1st-15 from the 50. Flacco goes deep for Mason down the Tennessee sideline in double coverage, and his one-handed catch attempt fails with 1:58 left. 2:00 warning.

Baltimore has the wind at their back, iirc, and are 16-17 yards from a reasonable FG attempt for Stover.

The Freak is offsides to make it 2nd-10 at the Titan 45 for Baltimore.
Inside handoff???? to McGahee, but he finds a lot of room on the left side for about 11. Gumbel points out the Ravens will go to kickoff specialist Steven Hauschka for anything over 45 yards as Dierdorf confirms Baltimore has the wind at its back.
McGahee up the middle for 1. 1:18 left.
The Titans now stuff McClain at the 33 and call timeout. They have two left. Looks for all the world like the Ravens are happy to settle for a 50-yard attempt by Hauschka here. Really?
1:04 left. Play-action pass to Clayton at the 25 sets up a very makeable FG for Stover. 4th-and-short, 0:57 left, I assume the Ravens are kicking. The Titans use their 2nd timeout.
And here's Stover, putting the Ravens ahead 13-10 with a 43-yard kick. Another freaking great week for me in the football pool coming right up.

Ravens kick off with 0:53 left. Griffin returns it out to the 35. Titans need at least 35 yards. They start with a STUPID 5-yard pass OVER THE MIDDLE to Jones. Gage fails to come up with a sliding sideline catch at the Raven 40 with 23 seconds left, and Tennessee is already under the gun. 3rd-5.
Collins IDIOTICALLY goes OVER THE MIDDLE AGAIN and is extremely lucky not to get it picked off. FOURTH AND FIVE! Ravens get to Collins with a three man rush, and he throws it a mile over the open receiver downfield.

I cannot believe I have been so fucking lousy at predicting this year's playoff games. Lotsa luck, Carolina, Giants, San Diego! Looks like we're in for a Ravens-Eggles Super Bowl the way my fucking picks are going.

Baltimore 13, Tennessee 10, and the SIX seed has advanced to the AFC Championship.

Obviously we don't know where Baltimore's going next week yet, but right now I don't like their chances of slugging it out with either the Steelers or Chargers after the extremely physical contest they had today. So, book the Ravens to the Super Bowl, I guess; fuck if I can ever pick any of their games right.

Tennessee didn't lose this because of weakness at any particular position, even given Collins' shitty second half; turnovers did them in completely. They really should have had another 17-20 points. Least Valuable Player of this game, though, is Chris Hope, burned on both of Flacco's big passes. Also give a nod to Terry McAulay or whichever official was responsible for not noticing the play clock RUN OUT during Baltimore's final drive. Usually this is where I'd suggest how to improve the losing team for next year; Tennessee mostly needs to find better luck. In particular, they needed somebody to step up after Johnson was injured, and really didn't get that. But without poor luck with fumbles, injuries and officiating mistakes, they're hosting the AFC Championship next week. If they stumble on a good back-seven player in the draft, a safety in particular, they should jump.

Hmm, did somebody make a suggestion about Terrible Towel karma before the opening kickoff?

With a nod toward John Harbaugh for challenging the catch before the long FG miss by Bironas and having a team that clearly believes they can beat anybody, the game MVP goes to Jim Leonhard for a truly amazing game. He recovered the Lendale White fumble, forced the Crumpler fumble, and his blitz forced Collins' INT. Ed Reed was completely silent today, but the MVP of the game is still a Raven safety. Brilliant game by Leonhard.

As for the Ryan-vs.-Schwartz faceoff, Ryan won it, decisively. Schwartz doesn't like to blitz, and he didn't even though he wasn't putting a lot of pressure on the rookie Flacco. Lack of pressure left his secondary exposed in ugly fashion on the two big plays. I don't need to see any more of that stuff here in Rams Nation - I like a defense that'll get after it like Ryan's did, though I also thought Ryan unnecessarily exposed his guys too often with 3rd-and-long blitzes after playing the first half way too vanilla. He certainly does have them in a successful mindset where turnovers are concerned, though. I'd take him as Rams HC.

No rest for those of us without lives; on to Kurt and the Panthers.