The Baltimore Ravens got the proverbial monkey off their back and won a playoff game for the first time since 2014. Time to hand out some game balls.
Lamar Jackson:
The whole world doubted him after a previous 0-2 record in the post-season. Few believed in Lamar Jackson to win a playoff game against a stout Tennessee Titans win. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Jackson answered the call and got the Baltimore Ravens the highly-coveted playoff win.
It started off rocky after a terrible interception in the first quarter. After that play, however, Jackson settled in and never looked back. Jackson didn’t let one bad play define his day and proceeded to gouge the Titans defense for big-play after big-play, including this 48-yard touchdown run that might be the best play of the 2020 playoffs thus far. Jackson was brilliant beyond that one play, completing ~71% of his passes for 179-yards and tallying another 136-yards on the ground. Tennessee did its best to slow down Jackson, but you just can’t stop this man.
Jackson delivered one of the biggest performances of his career and is embracing the pressure everyone has placed on him. A big test looms next week for the Ravens as they are set to face off against either the Buffalo Bills or the Kansas City Chiefs. If Jackson puts together another performance like he just did, we should be confident that Baltimore can pull off a win. Until then, Jackson gets our first game ball.
The front seven:
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Pernell McPhee. Jihad Ward. Derek Wolfe. Malik Harrison. Matt Judon. Yannick Ngakoue. All of them deserve a game ball, so I’ll cheat a little here and have them split one.
The Ravens completely controlled the line of scrimmage and set the tone early on in the game that the Titans weren’t going to run over this defense. Derrick Henry, the league’s leading rusher and 2,000-yard runner, was held to 40-yards on 18 carries with a long of just eight yards. Baltimore recorded three tackles for loss during the game as well, while firing off pressure and keeping Ryan Tannehill on his toes all games. The unit may have only recorded one sack, but the defense really set the tone for this game.
The Ravens defense had a game plan and executed it to perfection. The opposing run game was swallowed up and few big plays were surrendered for 60 minutes. Without the play of this front seven, Baltimore would not have been victorious. For that, the whole unit gets our second game ball.
Marcus Peters:
All the man does is force turnovers and during the game’s biggest moment, “Juice Man” delivered the biggest interception of his career.
To set the stage, the Ravens are up a touchdown with under two minutes left to play and the Titans were looking to tie the game up. Tannehill is looking to get the ball out deep down the sideline to keep as much time on the clock as possible. The pocket collapses and Tannehill fires a low pass that’s tipped at the line of scrimmage. The ball gently falls right into the lap of Marcus Peters, who called “game over!” with the pick.
Peters talks the talk against his opponents but he backs it up with his play. There was no better example of this than when he intercepted the ball to seal away the Baltimore Ravens’ first playoff win since the 2014 season. For the showstopping play, Peters earned our final game ball.