Ravens Still Hated in the Music City as Titans Look to Upset Baltimore

Think back to just one week ago Ravens fans. Remember how you were feeling a few days before the Steelers game? You wanted nothing more than for your Ravens to beat their hated rivals.

You prayed to the football Gods for a victory. You promised them that this would be the only time you asked for anything, that is until the week of Nov. 6. There are many Tennessee Titans fans doing the very same thing this weekend, as many in the Music City have nothing but hate for the Ravens.

While just about everybody in Baltimore feels that the Steelers are the obstacle that has prevented their team from bigger and better things, there is no doubt, the Ravens have done exactly the same thing to the Titans. Just ask any Tennessee fan over the age of 30, whom they consider the original rivals, and every one of them will tell you the Baltimore Ravens.

Back when the Ravens and Titans were rivals in the AFC Central, the Ravens seemed to end the Titans' hopes and dreams on a regular basis. Even now, the Ravens continue to torture fans in the Music City.

The Ravens have played in just as many memorable and physical games against Tennessee as they have the Steelers. Further complicating the emotions of Titans fans has been the defection of several key franchise players to Baltimore.

Most notably, Derrick Mason came to the Ravens in 2005 and went on to become Baltimore's all-time leading receiver. Following Mason was popular Tennessee defensive back, Samari Rolle. The biggest blow came when the Titans second leading passer in franchise history, quarterback Steve McNair came to Baltimore in 2006, and finished his career there. 

The Rivalry began to blossom during the 2000 season when all three were still in Nashville. The Titans went 13-3, won the AFC Central and finished with the No.1 seed in the playoffs. The Ravens, meanwhile, finished 12-4 and won the Wild Card.

That season, the Ravens became the first team to beat the Titans at then, Adelphia Coliseum, but they also became the second to do so during the 2000 playoffs. Baltimore ended the best regular season in Titans history by beating them in the AFC Divisional round of the playoffs the same year.

The November 2000 win snapped the Titans' NFL record 12-game winning streak to open a new NFL stadium. Not only that, but the Jan. 7, 2001 AFC Divisional playoff game produced perhaps the most famous play in the history of the franchise.

Ray Lewis finished off the Titans when he grabbed a bobbled pass from Eddie George out of mid air at midfield, broke two tackles, and returned the ball for his first career touchdown.

The touchdown sealed the deal, as the Ravens came away with the 24-10 win. The Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl and the Titans were left to seethe. Titan players thought a return trip to the Super Bowl was a foregone conclusion. Many forget the Titans, not the Ravens, had the No.1 ranked defense in the NFL that season.

The bad blood developed between the two teams during the course of the 2000 season and head coaches Brian Billick of Baltimore and Jeff Fisher of Tennessee were more than happy to help add fuel to the fire.

Titans coach Jeff Fisher became upset at Billick, when following the first win in Tennessee, Billick used a Sports Illustrated cover that proclaimed the Titans as the best team in the NFL, to rub his team’s victory into the Titans players and fans. 

Billick told his team in the locker room, as he held up the SI cover, "Here it is guys, the NFL's best team. Well, maybe they are," Then he paused and finished. 'But not today!' An NFL Films crew was there, filming the whole made for sports TV drama.

Just prior to the start of the playoff game Fisher got his hands on the film and had the Titans video replay operator play the scene to fire up his team and the crowd. Billick was furious by the move, but his players assured him prior to kickoff on the sidelines that they had their coach's back. Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister added fuel to the fire when he proclaimed that Titans RB, Eddie George "folded like a baby" in their November meeting.

What made the loss so much more devastating was the fact that the Titans dominated the stats. Tennessee held a two to one advantage in time of possession, had 17 more first downs, and out gained the Ravens by 183 yards

Three years ago, the Ravens did virtually the same thing as they did in 2000, when they eliminated the Titans from the postseason. Tennessee was 13-3 during the regular season, held a win over Baltimore in an October game, and was the No.1 seed in the AFC.

As they did during the 2001 playoff game, the Titans again dominated the Ravens on the stat sheets. But despite out gaining the Ravens 391-211 in the game, Baltimore, not Tennessee, would advance to play for the AFC Championship.

This infuriated the Titans faithful as the Ravens had once again come to town, this time with a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach to trounce on their Super Bowl dreams.

I recently wrote an article detailing the 20 greatest wins in Ravens' history. The article received one comment. It came from Titans fan, Mr. Nathan Dasch.

"You know, I never really understood why my family and other Ravens fans I know don't hate the Titans,” he said.

“I always viewed them as our original rivals. The Jaguars was literally one-sided at the time so viewing them as a rival seemed foolish. But the Titans and Ravens seem to have bad blood every time they meet. Do Titans fans hate the Ravens with a passion?"

The answer I gave was no, we do not. Why would we? Much like a few Steelers fans feel, and their safety Ryan Clark, it is tough to hate a team that cannot beat the Ravens when it counts.

Or so they say, but how about asking them this week.

Tennessee will look to spoil the good feeling the Ravens and their fans have following last week’s win over Pittsburgh. They will come out on Sunday, much like the Ravens did last week, and look to feed off their fired up fans, just as the Ravens did.

Tennessee is not expected to be a very good football team this year. Gone is the only coach the fans in the Music City have ever known. After 17 seasons, Jeff Fisher was replaced by his long time offensive line coach, Mike Munchak.

The Titans also have a new quarterback and one that has had good success against the Baltimore defensive scheme in his career. Matt Hasselbeck replaces Vince Young and Carey Collins with a 2-1-1 against the Ravens. The former Seattle Seahawks quarterback possess a 107 passer rating with seven touchdowns and just two interceptions, while throwing for 532 yards against Baltimore.

The Titans also have one of the best young running backs in the NFL in Chris Johnson. In two career games against Baltimore, Johnson averaged a measly 58 yards per game on the ground. Tennessee is coming off an opening week 16-14 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.  

The Ravens must be conscious of Hasselbeck's new favorite receiver, Kenny Britt. Against the Jags, Britt had five catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The Ravens secondary is very banged up and it would be foolish to believe that Hassleback cannot take advantage.

If there is such a thing as legitimate Super Bowl contenders after just one week of play, then the Ravens are it. They manhandled their hated rivals to the tune of 35-7 and forced their nemesis, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, into committing five of the seven Pittsburgh turnovers.

The Ravens and Titans have split 16 regular season games, as Baltimore holds a 2-1 advantage in the postseason. The two teams have not met since the January 2009 playoff game when the Ravens came away with the 13-10 win.

The Ravens of recent seasons have had a knack to play down to their competition, but after last week, it appears that Coach Harbaugh has a well disciplined, focused and very good football team. One that seems ready to comfortably beat the teams they are supposed to beat.

The Titans are a team that Baltimore should handle on Sunday, but they still need to be wary.

The Titans are the Ravens from last week in terms of emotions. Last week the Ravens passed the first test of the 2011 season. They finished off a tough opponent convincingly, when they failed to do so on many occasions last season.

The next test is Sunday. The Ravens are teetering on elite status and elite teams do not play down to an inferior opponent or have an emotional let down following a big win.

Losing in Nashville would be a step back for head coach John Harbaugh and company, but it would not be the end of the world. A loss would take away a measure of the feel-good story from last week and probably bring out the crazies on the message boards, but the Ravens would be fine.

However, Baltimore simply looked too good last week for that to happen. This is John Harbaugh’s team, and it is hard to imagine that he would allow the Ravens to let down at all this season.

In the end, the Ravens take the lead in the series, and do so rather easily.

Final score

Ravens 31 Titans 13