Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens: Full Week 10 Preview for Tennessee
The Tennessee Titans could really make use of a bye. With Zach Mettenberger coming off a less-than-impressive start to his career, the coaching staff could benefit from an extra week of rest, preparation and game-tape reviewing.
Mettenberger had a tough team to start his career against, but things won't get much easier against the Ravens. Baltimore is 5-4 right now and in a tough race with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for the division.
The Titans aren't mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet, but they'd have to win out to make it, and that doesn't seem very likely. That said, the Ravens are a beatable team, and the Titans are coming off a bye.
So what can we expect from the Titans with an extra week of preparation? Here's a full preview.
Week 8 Recap
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The Titans didn't fare well against their division rivals, the Houston Texans. The defense limited the Texans offense until halfway through the second quarter and even managed to prevent two long drives from turning into points.
However, with little help from the offense, the defense didn't last long. The Texans scored an additional two touchdowns in the third quarter, increasing their lead to 24 points.
Arian Foster had a field day, rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns. J.J. Watt had a big day as well with two sacks, including a strip sack, two tackles for loss and a deflected pass.
Mettenberger looked better late in the game, but that was likely due to the Texans playing prevent defense from the fourth quarter on.
A last-minute touchdown by Tennessee kept the game from looking like the complete blowout that it was, but seven compensatory points didn't mean much in the end.
News and Notes
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Josh Gunnels of Music City Miracles had an interesting opinion piece about wanting teams to tank for high draft picks. When teams start off 2-6, you hear a lot of talk of tanking.
Whatever your opinion on whether a team should take a dive for a higher pick, it's something that just doesn't happen. First of all, while fans don't tend to move around from team to team, personnel and players do.
Not only do future free agents want to look their best, but you also have coaches who want to keep their jobs. If you're a head coach in need of a quarterback, a No. 1 overall pick might get you Andrew Luck, but it will also probably get you fired.
Then there's the possibility that Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston and Connor Cook might not look that good by the time the draft rolls around, and you may find yourself in a first overall spot that you now aren't sure you want.
Of course, before you count your chickens, you have to remember that the Oakland Raiders are still winless, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are second to last in total offense and last in total defense, and the Jaguars still have another game against the Titans. Therefore, the chances of the Titans getting that first overall pick, even if they tried to tank, aren't actually that great anyway.
Injury Report
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| Player | Position | Status |
| Coty Sensabaugh | DB | Probable |
| Taylor Thompson | TE | Injured Reserve |
| Nate Washington | WR | Questionable |
Taylor Thompson landing on injured reserve doesn't help depth at tight end, but the way Delanie Walker has been playing this season, the Titans are going to want him on the field as much as possible anyway. Chase Coffman will give him some rest.
Getting Coty Sensabaugh back will be huge for the Titans secondary. Blidi Wreh-Wilson played his best game of the season against the Texans, but Sensabaugh has been the better corner this season overall. With the Titans already missing Bernard Pollard, having one of the best corners back on the field will make things a lot easier.
Nate Washington is questionable with a shoulder injury. He's made some big catches in the last few games, but he's a clear No. 4 after Walker, Justin Hunter and Kendall Wright, so even though his absence won't help, it shouldn't be a huge setback.
All injury information taken from ESPN's injury report page for the Titans.
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X-Factor and Matchups to Watch
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Titans Offensive Line vs. NFL Officials
The Titans have the most penalized offensive line in the NFL right now. They also have one of the most expensive. One of the key areas where the offensive line isn't ranked near the top, though, is performance.
Other than the problems with blocking, the offensive line just can't seem to stop picking up penalties and killing drives before they even get going. Maybe with the extra week to prepare, they'll get the snap count down and stop false-starting so often.
Titans Secondary vs. Joe Flacco
Joe Flacco is capable of being a very good quarterback. In the playoff games of the Ravens' Super Bowl run in the 2012 season, he was superb.
Then there is Flacco this season. He's been hit or miss, and in the last three weeks, he's been more miss than hit. Since his big game against the Buccaneers in Week 6, Flacco has thrown five interceptions and only four touchdowns.
With Coty Sensabaugh back from injury, Blidi Wreh-Wilson playing better and the whole team coming off a bye, the Titans' defensive backs could make life tough for Flacco if they're prepared.
X-Factor: Zach Mettenberger again
Is it a cop-out to call Mettenberger the X-factor? Maybe a little, but if he can't play better than he did in his debut against the Texans, what the rest of the team does won't matter that much.
For the Titans to win games, they have to have an offense that can sustain drives and keep the defense off the field. Even more importantly, the offense has to find a way to capitalize when the defense does it a favor.
Until that happens, the Titans aren't going to win any competitive games.
Prediction
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The Ravens would be heavily favored wherever this game was played. It just so happens that it's going to be played in Baltimore, where the Ravens are 3-1 this season, with their only loss coming to the Bengals in the season opener.
The Titans have had one of their two wins on the road, but their three losses were two blowouts and a loss to Washington, who beat them with their third-string quarterback.
The Ravens are 10th in the league in rushing yards per game, and run defense is the Titans' weakest area. To make matters worse, the Ravens are sixth in the league in run defense, so the Titans will have to lean heavily on Mettenberger to put up points.
The Titans are already underdogs, and they don't match up well with the Ravens. So, despite the bye-week boost, I expect the Titans to lose this one handily.
Prediction: Baltimore 31, Tennessee 12
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