Divisional Playoff report card: Ravens-Titans

Ravens 13, Titans 10

Ravens WR Derrick Mason carved up his old team, pulling down five catches for 78 yards and one touchdown. Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Baltimore Ravens

Quarterbacks: By no means did Joe Flacco throw a perfect game, but the Ravens have never needed that. They needed someone who could make a few big throws, like his 48-yard touchdown to Derrick Mason, and not turn the ball over on a rainy afternoon in Nashville. And Flacco did just that. Zero interceptions, zero fumbles and no sacks -- despite the dogged efforts of Albert Haynesworth and Jevon Kearse, who came close several times early on.

On that touchdown, Flacco did a fantastic job of first stepping up into the pocket and then finding Mason, who'd slipped into a coverage gap. His later deep ball, a 37-yarder to Mark Clayton, never should have left his hand. He got lucky on that one when two defenders, both with better position on the ball, slipped.

Flacco's best throw of the game was his strike to Todd Heap, right up the middle, late in the game, setting up the game-winning field goal. He did, however, get lucky on that play, not getting flagged for a deserved delay of game penalty. As an aside: Am I the only one who thought Flacco pulled a Dan Orlovsky and stepped out of the back of the end zone late in the fourth quarter? I thought it was close enough to deserve another look. Grade: B

Running Backs: Pretty unspectacular from the get-go, which put the offense in some awful third-and-long situations on the first two drives (both ended up three-and-out). Le'Ron McClain dropped one swing pass early on, wasting a snazzy Flacco pump-fake-twist that bought McClain some real estate on the right sideline. McClain dealt with an ankle injury the rest of the game and neither he (12 carries, 12 yards) nor Willis McGahee (12 carries, 32 yards) were really factors in the game. Grade: D

Wide Receivers: Mason was their only weapon. Through the first 27 minutes, Flacco had completed five balls, -- all five to Mason. The wideout benefited from blown coverage on his long touchdown. He then showed an All Pro's concentration on a lowly thrown ball that he dug out to earn a first down in the third quarter. And, of course, Clayton came up with a long ball as two Titans defenders collided alongside him. Grade: B+

Offensive Line: Bottom line, his teammates kept Flacco on his feet. They didn't do much to help the ground game start though, and right tackle Willie Anderson was intermittently useless after suffering a neck stinger early. (Looked more like a shoulder or arm problem to me; Kearse worked him over pretty good.) Anderson's short-term sub, Adam Terry, got away with a clear hold on the Mason touchdown. The line showed some smart ad-libbing on a second-quarter outlet pass to McClain. A quartet formed a force field around McClain and ushered him to an eight-yard gain. Grade: B-

Defensive Line: It's certainly not good when announcers spend an entire game fixated on how well your opponent's offensive line played. The Ravens got absolutely schooled at the line of scrimmage. Grade: C

Linebackers: Early in the game, Bart Scott was neutralized numerous times on the blitz and Ray Lewis was too often in protection (blame that on the coaches). I'm still not sure how Lewis came up with 11 tackles; seems like classic piling on to me because I don't recall seeing much of him at all. The unit perked up in the second half, despite Scott's absence, once they were let loose on some more blitzes. It's not their fault, but I don't understand why they were mostly in coverage (and not rushing Collins) throughout much of the first half. Grade: B-

Defensive Backs: If the Ravens had lost this game, Fabian Washington would have been the goat. He got beat badly on a long pass to Justin Gage in the first quarter and then whiffed on Chris Johnson on the Titans' first score; that whole drive was his bad. Throughout the game, he got absolutely worked over by Gage (six catches for 95 yards in first half alone) who's far from a Pro Bowl receiver.

Strong safety Jim Leonhard was far better. He fought through the block of Jake Scott, a lineman twice his size, early on to break up a tight end screen to Bo Scaife. Then he had two productive blitzes that forced bad passes by Collins, one of which was intercepted. He also recovered LenDale White's fumble at the end of the first quarter and played the low to Bart Scott's high on a high-low tackle that forced Alge Crumpler's crucial fourth quarter fumble near the goal line. Funny thing. I don't recall hearing Ed Reed's name almost all game long. Grade: Safeties A-; Corners C

Special Teams: Sam Koch put the Titans in a pinch early on with a second quarter punt that was downed on the one after bouncing an inch from the goal line. Leonhard's 29-yard third-quarter punt return to the Tennessee 41 made up for some offensive deficiencies and set the Ravens up for a go-ahead field goal. Matt Stover was reliable, going 2-for-2, including the 43-yard game-winner. Grade: A-

Coaching: Again, I don't understand why the Ravens sat back and didn't blitz through much of the first half. They played much better when they sent bodies at Collins. I noticed only one trick play from coordinator Cam Cameron, an extra-tackle formation that they used to some success against Pittsburgh a month ago. In that game they ran from it; tonight they passed (incomplete). A nice little bait-and-switch, albeit with little reward. My question for John Harbaugh: In the third quarter you had the ball at the Titans' goal line but McClain, your big guy, was out. Your backs were averaging about 1.5 yards per carry at the time. Why even run McGahee once? Seemed like a wasted play to me and it cost them four points (they ended up kicking) in a close game. Grade: B

Tennessee Titans

Quarterbacks: You can't fault Collins for Chris Johnson's ankle injury, but once Johnson went down, the wheels fell off the offense. Collins threw a nice game (26 of 42, 281 yards) but that's too much passing. His 42 passes tied for the most he's thrown as a Titan, and he looked a little tired (read: inaccurate) down the line. At the end of the game, you'd rather have White and Johnson grinding it out, but the Titans' gameplan -- to run -- got away from them. They carried 28 times to those 42 passes. A few mistakes: Collins missed Gage on the right sideline on the game's second drive for what would have been an easy touchdown. And his pick was pretty poor: off of his back foot and into coverage. He should have eaten that ball. Grade: B

Running Backs: What a weird day for this unit. Chris Johnson was a beast early. He showed great patience in allowing the hole to develop on his 32-yard run in the first quarter; and he showed a ton of determination on the touchdown run, fighting through two tackles. Meanwhile, White looked terrible, culminating with his lethal fumble at the Ravens' 15. (Even three points on that drive would have been huge.) White came back late with some long runs through a winded defensive line, plus a few nice catches out of the backfield; but it was too late. Grade: First half A; second half C

Wide Receivers: An MVP day for Justin Gage, whose 10 catches were a career high. The 135 yards were 12 short of his best. Not much help from the other receivers though, and it was unclear why Justin McCareins was sitting out the fourth quarter. The tight ends cost 'em big. Alge Crumpler: You have to hold on to that ball. Bo Scaife: You've gotta drag that right foot. He didn't and Rob Bironas' subsequent kick turned from 46 to 51 yards. He missed. A side note: Kind of freaky to see Gage stretching the best that he could, but still coming up just that much short of a key first down late in the game on third-and-long, right? I mean, Kevin Dyson has to be watching somewhere and saying, "I feel ya, bro." A first down would have been absolutely huge there. Instead the Titans had to settle for a field goal. Grade: B

Offensive Line: I'll reiterate what you heard about 500 times if you watched the game on television: It was really amazing how much time Collins had, especially considering that this unit's anchor, center Kevin Mawae, sat out with a right elbow injury. Mawae's sub, Leroy Harris, wasn't flawless. Making only the second start of his career, he sent a shotgun snap into Collins' thigh early in the game and messed up another shotgun snap's timing later on. Grade: C-

Defensive Line: A solid first half but the pass rush slowed considerably in the second and, ultimately, they didn't put Flacco on the ground even once. Run-wise they were perfect, never letting the Ravens establish a groove. Kyle Vanden Bosch was a non-factor coming back from injury. He over-pursued plenty of plays that the Ravens ran right underneath him. Baltimore also used one screen pass to take advantage of his poor angles. Grade: B+

Linebackers: David Thornton had a sweet hit right into the gut of Heap that jarred loose a possible reception and nixed what would have been a third-quarter first down. Later, he knocked the stuffing out of Lorenzo Neal, albeit after a substantial gain on a screen. Not many people can stand Neal up like that. Grade: B-

Defensive Backs: As mentioned before, Chris Hope was out of position and came in a second late on Mason's touchdown reception. Cortland Finnegan had solid coverage and was in better position than Mason on the other deep ball, but he slipped. (Hope fell, too.) A solid game by Finnegan, for sure. Cornerback Nick Harper had a spectacular play, leaping over Mason to punch the ball out of his hands on what would have been a first down at the Titans' 40 in the third. He tried the exact same maneuver, over the top of Heap, on the final drive of the game and mistimed it; Heap made the crucial catch. Grade: A-

Special Teams: Bironas' 51-yarder (which took a hard line about a foot to the left of the post) hurt, especially since he had the wind with him. Grade: C

Coaching: A bad start: a delay of game penalty on their first possession forced 3rd-and-16, which the Titans couldn't convert. That's gotta be some sideline miscommunication. It didn't hurt them much, but why was Chris Johnson, and not White, in the backfield on first-and-10 at the Titans' own 1? And why, when Johnson got cutesy and was nearly tackled for a safety, was he back in there again? (Sure enough, he cut back and almost got caught once more.) At the end of the day, that pass-run differential (42-28) is not what you want to see. Injuries are unpreventable, but I'd have liked to have seen Tennessee's coaching staff come out with something smarter when Johnson went down. Grade: C