A win vs. Tennessee Titans can silence Baltimore Ravens doubters

The noise of doubt surrounding the Baltimore Ravens is becoming deafening, but the team can silence their critics with a win vs. the Tennessee Titans.

Expectations were through the roof for the Baltimore Ravens entering the 2020 season after a historically successful 2019 season. Baltimore had gone 14-2 in the regular season including a 12-game winning streak to end the season. The Ravens easily secured the rights to the AFC’s number one seed in the playoffs and looked like heavy-weight favorites for the Super Bowl.

That dream ended when the Tennessee Titans came to town and blew out Baltimore 28-12 in the divisional round of the playoffs. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and had everyone clamoring about running it back for 2020.

The offseason looked great, too, adding Pro Bowl pass rusher Calais Campbell via trade and drafting two of the 2020 NFL Draft’s best prospects in Patrick Queen and J.K. Dobbins. With a roster that brought back a ton of weapons on both sides of the ball, things were looking good for the Ravens to be dominant once again.

While the team does sit at 6-3 on the season with a shot to still win the AFC North, there are quite a few concerns for this Baltimore Ravens squad. For starters, they’re a very banged up unit with key injuries to players like the aforementioned Campbell and Ronnie Stanley. Baltimore has also struggled against the run this year and the offense has taken a significant step backward from its 2019 counterpart. All in all, things look to be a lot different than what we anticipated.

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Much of the blame falls on fans and the media, as the hype we gave these Ravens was unbelievably high. There were some who even believed that Baltimore could go 16-0 with such an easy schedule. That thought went out the door long ago, but this team has been almost written off entirely because they haven’t balled up when the games matter most.

The Ravens have lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, arguably the two best teams in football, but also have a head-scratching loss to the New England Patriots on prime time for the whole world to see. It’s been a confusing and frustrating season for sure and we just can’t seem to get a good read on this team. To say we have a lot of questions both answered and unanswered would be an understatement.

Well, Baltimore has a chance to shut their critics up this week with a rematch against the same Tennessee Titans that humbled the Ravens back in January.

Tennessee comes to Charm City also sitting at 6-3 on the season and looks every bit as good, if not better, than they were back in January. Derrick Henry is once again feasting this season on the ground and Ryan Tannehill has been lights out. These Titans are big-time threats to opposing contenders and Baltimore is no exception.

Winning is always a team’s priority for every game, but this win matters more than ever before. We said this when the Ravens faced Kansas City and they lost. We said this when they played Pittsburgh and they lost that, too. Now they have to win vs. Tennessee and there will be no acceptable excuses for a loss. If Baltimore is intending to prove their doubters wrong and prove they’re for real then they need to get their act together and finally beat a quality opponent in 2020.

When the dust settles on Sunday, hopefully, the Baltimore Ravens have sent a message to the league that they aren’t to be taken lightly. The Ravens have come up short seemingly all year long, so a win vs. the Tennessee Titans could be the fire they need to turn this thing around. It’s time to prove the doubters wrong.