The Ravens (2-1) will face the Tennessee Titans (0-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday in Baltimore. Here are game predictions from The Banner\u2019s sports staff.<\/p>\n
Time for defense to shine<\/p>\n
Kyle Goon, columnist (2-1): It\u2019s hard not to have sincere concerns about the Ravens\u2019 offense this week. Rookie Vega Ioane will be up against Jeffery Simmons while playing a new position, which probably won\u2019t help the Ravens\u2019 short-yardage woes. It could be a frustrating week for Derrick Henry, so Lamar Jackson and the passing game need to be on point.<\/p>\n
But, if the Ravens\u2019 defense can play to its potential, this game could be a lot easier and snap the franchise\u2019s string of home losses. Cam Ward should give the defense opportunities to capitalize on mistakes. The Ravens have just one interception. It\u2019s time for Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver to cook up a game plan that will confuse the young quarterback. Even more important, the Ravens\u2019 middling secondary will have to execute it. Malaki Starks and Jaylinn Hawkins, among the defense\u2019s lowest-graded players, need to be better.<\/p>\n
Ravens 24, Titans 13<\/p>\n
A chance for the secondary to bounce back<\/p>\n
Giana Han, reporter (2-1): It\u2019s unfortunate that the Titans\u2019 strongest performer, defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, just happens to line up across from the place where I have the most concerns about the Ravens, which is their interior offensive line. But, if there\u2019s any team to work through things against, it\u2019s the Titans. Their quarterback hasn\u2019t adjusted to the NFL, and they don\u2019t have a running back in the same class as the guy they let go \u2014 Derrick Henry. If Henry hits some runs outside the tackles, he might have a resurgent game against his former team.<\/p>\n
The Ravens\u2019 other weakest point is their secondary, but without an opposing quarterback who can pick them apart, this might be a great bounce-back game for those players.<\/p>\n
Ravens 34, Titans 14<\/p>\n
Start fast, or else<\/p>\n
Jonas Shaffer, reporter (2-1): This is the worst offense the Ravens will have played this season, which, given the state of the Indianapolis Colts, isn\u2019t saying much. This is also the best defense the Ravens will have played this season, which isn\u2019t saying much, either.<\/p>\n
If the Ravens don\u2019t get off to a fast start at home, they could be playing with fire against a double-digit underdog. The Titans have eight first-half first downs. Eight. After halftime, they\u2019ve been a better-than-average offense. The last thing the Ravens want to do is trust this remade interior to hold up against Jeffery Simmons on a gotta-have-it third-and-long. <\/p>\n
Ravens 23, Titans 14<\/p>\n
Titans offense doesn\u2019t scare you<\/p>\n
Childs Walker, contributor (1-2): The prospect of interior menace Jeffery Simmons going at novice center Vega Ioane is enough to make this a testier matchup for the Ravens than the betting line might suggest. For all of winless Tennessee\u2019s woes, its defense, especially against the run, has not been a pushover. That said, the Ravens\u2019 offense is easily the most explosive the Titans have faced, and there\u2019s not much reason to think second-year quarterback Cam Ward can go touchdown for touchdown with Lamar Jackson. The Ravens average almost 2 yards per play more than the Titans. Put it this way: If Jesse Minter\u2019s defense struggles to contain this offense for four quarters, then we know there\u2019s something to worry about.<\/p>\n
Ravens 27, Titans 10<\/p>\n
Ravens prevail in a slop fest<\/p>\n
Brandon Weigel, editor (2-1): The forecast calls for rain all morning and afternoon, and that spells trouble for the Ravens for a couple of reasons. Those conditions would typically call for a heavy dose of ground-and-pound with Derrick Henry, but as we saw against Dallas, the Ravens\u2019 shoddy interior blocking has made it hard to run it up the gut<\/a>. As everyone has said, All-Pro Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons presents a stern test.<\/p>\n And, thanks to injuries to Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic, first-round pick Vega Ioane is expected to slide over to center. A rookie playing out of position and tasked with snapping a slick ball and having to help block Simmons? Shudder.<\/p>\n But no need to overthink it. The Titans have one of the worst offenses in the league, and the Ravens defense will keep it at bay.<\/p>\n Ravens 19, Titans 10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ravens (2-1) will face the Tennessee Titans (0-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday in Baltimore. Here are game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1016539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[7691,7,6,8734,526,394,2411,527],"class_list":["post-1016538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennessee-titans","tag-baltimore-city","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-owings-mills","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-tennesseetitans","tag-titans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117370996875007951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1016539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}