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Sneak Peek Adelphia avengement on mind of Titans
Updated: Friday January 05, 2001 8:14 PM
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated In the months between the Hall of Fame Game and Super Bowl, there is no such thing as a neutral site in the NFL, certainly not in the playoffs. But don't try telling the Baltimore Ravens that they haven't at least partially neutralized the Tennessee Titans' home-field advantage in Sunday's AFC divisional round playoff. Maybe home doesn't mean quite as much for these two former vagabond franchises, but the defending AFC champion Titans will welcome the only other team that knows what it feels like to walk off the field at Adelphia Coliseum with a victory. In the verbal shadowboxing that always precedes a playoff game, where the sacred themes of "not in our house" and protecting one's turf are frequently intermingled, how much is that little psychological sidebar worth? "It's huge. It's huge," said Baltimore quarterback Trent Dilfer of the Ravens' 24-23 victory on Nov. 12 in Nashville. "Because now all this is is a football game. It's not a football game, plus this ... There's none of that. It's us against them. Nothing else matters." The side shows are refreshingly simple this week as these two AFC Central rivals prepare to meet for the right to advance to the conference title game. Both are exceptional on defense, with the Titans squeaking past the vaunted Ravens on the final regular-season Sunday to finish 1-2 in the defensive rankings. Both rely on their running games and their brute physicality. And both seem oblivious to their surroundings. Baltimore is 6-2 on the road this season and 7-2 at home. The Titans are 6-2 on the road, having won at Baltimore, and 7-1 at home. "Everytime we play them it's like a heavyweight fight," said Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the NFL's defensive player of the year. Outside of their November meeting, the teams have combined for just one loss since October, with the Ravens on an NFL-best eight-game winning streak and the Titans having won five of six. Little wonder this is the glamour matchup of the weekend. "It's getting to be a rivalry like Denver and Kansas City was, or the Broncos and the Raiders," said Ravens tight end Shannon Sharpe. "And I think it only became a rivalry once we beat them. It only becomes a rivalry when the rabbit has the gun. Now it's a situation where we kind of have the gun. We kind of had the upper hand the last game." The familiarity factor is so strong that the Ravens had a hard time this week containing their glee at the ease of preparing for the Titans, who are 16-1 including the playoffs in their two seasons at Adelphia Coliseum. "For a team that's new to this experience of going into a second playoff game, this feels as much like home as we could have it," Ravens head coach Brian Billick said. "Fate has taken care of us is, even though it's a playoff environment. We're going to Tennessee. "This is one of those games where it's, 'Let's play Thursday night. Let's play Monday night. Let's play in the playoffs or the regular season.' Whether it's a divisional game, AFC championship, or we go up to Reisterstown [Maryland] and find some high school field and play it on Friday night and don't tell anybody about it. It's the same game to these two teams."
Using much the same winning recipeIndeed the Ravens and the Titans play much the same game. Everything Tennessee does starts with premise that running back Eddie George must get his yards. Everything Baltimore does starts with the premise of stopping the Eddie Georges of the world.
"We don't believe in that," Lewis said. "We don't believe in people running. That's the thing with this rivalry, there's no sugar-coating. At all. You know what they're going to come and do. Eddie George is their key." That being the case, the Ravens, better than anyone this season, have taken away the Titans' key and not let them drive. George left the teams first meeting in October, a 14-6 Titans win, with a knee injury after rushing just once for four yards. Tennessee won despite having just 191 yards of offense. In the second game, the Ravens' victory, George was again banged up, but ran 12 times for 28 of his team's 286 yards. In the past two seasons against Baltimore, George has rushed for 119 yards on 41 carries, an average of 2.9 yards per attempt. Against the rest of the league, George has rushed for 2,694 yards in 28 games in 1999 and 2000 (an average of 96.2 per game). "When we go out there and play our game, Jim Brown couldn't run on us," Ravens defensive end Rob Burnett said of Baltimore's NFL record-breaking run defense (just 970 yards this season, 60.6 per game). Maybe so, but Tennessee didn't earn the AFC's top seed and home-field advantage by not sticking with its strength, especially at playoff time. "You've got to try and run it," Titans head coach Jeff Fisher said. "We got here running the football. We're not going to just not run it because they're so good stopping it. We're not going to move the ball up and down the field against them. Nobody does. But you have to try and go into this game with balance." While the Ravens proudly wear their 34-game streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher, George has averaged 112.3 rushing yards in four career playoff games. With rookie running back Jamal Lewis hammering for 110 rushing yards on 30 carries in last week's wild-card victory against Denver, the Ravens have their own version of George ready to go. "I'm focused on the win," George said. "If it takes me getting 50 yards or 30 yards to win. I'll take it. It's extremely tough to win against their defense. They are a very physical team. I think pound-for-pound, they are probably the most physical team we've faced all year. They have beaten us at the point of attack a few times in the run game. That's what makes them so great in the run game."
Canceling out each other's strengthsWith both teams keying to stop the running game, quarterbacks Steve McNair and Trent Dilfer might be the difference makers in this rubber match. With points expected to be a premium -- Baltimore allowed an NFL record 165, Tennessee was second with 191 -- one mistake could be crucial. "You have to love this matchup," Sharpe said. "Thirteen and three against 13-4, the No. 1 and 2 defenses. That's why I really think the offense will have to win this game. If you turn the ball over, you have no chance against these defenses. We know if we can get some points and put pressure on them, we know what our defense can do. I'll take my chances with 21 points and our defense." Billick likes his team's chances, too, with one caveat. He says in the games his team has won against Titans -- they are 2-2 in his two seasons -- they have thrown the ball well. In the games they've lost, McNair has been the reason. "They're a great team and Eddie George is as good a back as there is out there," Billick said. "But George has never beaten us. Steve McNair is the guy who beats us. That's because we have a healthy respect for George. We're going to stack to try and stop him. We treat him with the ultimate respect and we're going to continue to do so. But we've got to minimize what McNair does to us. And that's tough." For just the sixth time in NFL history, and the first time in the AFC, the game will pit the league's No. 1 defense versus the No. 2 defense in the playoffs. Baltimore enters with a league-high four shutouts and having allowed no more than one touchdown in 12 of its last 14 games. But if anything, Tennessee's defense might be hotter. The Titans ended the season with consecutive shutouts, and have surrendered just three points in their past three games. They've also had a week to rest. "We have a great deal of respect for their defense," Fisher told The Tennessean. "They play well. They play hard, and they are the best defense we've faced all year. "But something is going to budge. Somewhere, somehow, something is going to budge in this game."
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