The Titans just won a hard-fought game against the New England Patriots. Here are some huge matchups to look for when the Titans come to Baltimore.
Baltimore’s defensive line vs Derrick Henry:
To say the key to the Titans defeating the Patriots was Derrick Henry might be an understatement. Henry ran wild all night and carried the Titans team on his back, he was clearly the Titans best player on the field and the Patriots had no answer for him.
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Derrick Henry finished the game with 182-yards rushing and was routinely running over Patriots defenders like they were children. He was simply the best player on the field and helped the Titans win the game in spite of Ryan Tannehill only completing eight passes all game.
The strength of the Ravens defense this year has been the secondary, not necessarily the run defense. Though it is true that the Ravens defense did end up fifth in the NFL in terms of rushing yards, they did allow 4.4 yards per carry. That 4.4 yards per carry mark is a little troubling since 19 other teams held opposing ball carriers to lower averages than that. Also, the Ravens had the fewest rushing attempts against them. For the season there were 340 rushing attempts, just a little over 21 carries a game.
The biggest thing will be to bottle Henry up in the backfield and not let him get to the second level of the defense. Henry is a linebacker playing running back and weighs about 40-pounds more than a typical cornerback. It will be up to the defensive line with players like Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce to keep Henry contained. If the Ravens fail to do this, they could be in for a very long day. The good news for the Ravens is Henry could be a little tired after toting the rock 34 times on Saturday, the Ravens will need all the advantages they can take against Derrick Henry.