A Titanic Upset

The great expectations the Baltimore Ravens created with their brilliant regular season, led by the breathtaking exploits of second-year quarterback Lamar Jackson, were dashed with a dud of a performance on a warm and windy night at M&T Bank Stadium.

They made a quick and highly disappointing exit from the postseason. Their blunders on offense kept handing points to the Tennessee Titans. The stunning result was the end of the Ravens’ dream season after a nightmarish 28-12 loss to the Titans in an AFC divisional playoff game here Saturday.

“I felt like this team was the best football team that it could be this year,” Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said. “Everything we had, I thought we made the most of us and became the best football team we could be. We just weren’t that today.”

The sixth-seeded Titans advanced to next weekend’s AFC championship game. They’ll play the Kansas City Chiefs who came back in amazing fashion against Houston after being behind 24-0. The Titans ousted the top-seeded Ravens from the playoffs one week after winning at New England to possibly end the Patriots’ dynastic run of NFL supremacy.

The Ravens had won their final 12 games of the regular season. They had the league’s presumptive MVP in Jackson, and its most dynamic offense, built around him. They were, as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, only two victories at home from a Super Bowl trip to Miami.

But Saturday’s version of Jackson and the Ravens bore little resemblance to the regular season version. Jackson threw two interceptions, lost a fumble on a sack and was stopped on a pair of key fourth-down running plays. The Titans converted two of the turnovers and two of the fourth-down stops of Jackson into 28 points.

“We just beat ourselves,” Jackson said. “I had a lot of mistakes on my behalf. Three turnovers, that shouldn’t happen.”

Bruising tailback Derrick Henry ran for 195 yards for Tennessee. He also threw a trick-play touchdown pass to wide receiver Corey Davis. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill ran for one touchdown and threw for two more, with a 12-yard pass to tight end Jonnu Smith and a 45-yard strike to wide receiver Kalif Raymond.

“I’m happy we won,” Henry said. “Stats and all that stuff is good. But we got the win and we’re advancing.”

It wasn’t surprising that the Titans were able to run the ball effectively with Henry. It was surprising that they were able to stymie Jackson and the Baltimore offense so thoroughly for so much of the game.

“This game is going to be the one that we’ll remember,” Harbaugh said, “because it’s the last one.”

The Titans never seemed bewildered by Jackson’s speed and elusiveness, as so many Ravens opponents were this season. Jackson, at times, looked more like the developing quarterback that he was last season as a rookie, not the polished product of this season.

“They were catching people in shock and awe in the first quarter,” Titans Coach Mike Vrabel said. “I thought we did a great job. The players understood the [Ravens’ offensive] scheme.”

Jackson suffered the second one-and-done playoff exit of his two-year NFL career.

“I hate losing,” he said. “I really do. So I don’t know. But like I said, we’ve got to move on. We’ve got to get better for next year.”

Jackson ran for 143 yards and threw for 365 more on 31-for-59 passing. The Ravens amassed 530 yards of total offense. But the big numbers were deceiving. The Titans thwarted Jackson on one big play after another on their way to a 28-6 lead in the fourth quarter. To that point, the Ravens had produced only a pair of field goals by kicker Justin Tucker.

Jackson threw a tipped-ball interception on the Ravens’ opening drive. His high pass deflected off the hands of tight end Mark Andrews and into the hands of Tennessee’s Kevin Byard. That set up Tannehill’s touchdown pass to Smith, who made a superb juggling catch in the end zone and just managed to land in bounds.

Harbaugh had been aggressive on fourth-down calls all season. He left his offense on the field on fourth and one from Baltimore’s 45-yard line on the opening play of the second quarter. This time, Harbaugh’s calculated gamble backfired in a big way. The Titans stopped Jackson and scored on the next play with Tannehill’s deep throw to Raymond.

The Ravens pulled to within 14-6 at halftime. But Jackson was stopped on fourth and less than a yard from the Tennessee 18-yard line in the third quarter. The Titans followed with Henry’s jump-pass to Davis for a three-yard touchdown after Henry took a direct snap, with Tannehill on the sideline and backup quarterback Marcus Mariota on the field but in motion out the backfield. That touchdown was set up by a 66-yard gallop by Henry. Tannehill later added a one-yard touchdown on an option-play keeper to cap a 20-yard drive after Jackson’s lost fumble.

Jackson did throw a touchdown pass to tight end Hayden Hurst in the fourth quarter. But by then, it was far too little, far too late. The Ravens got the ball back but had two more fourth-down failures. Jackson threw incomplete on fourth and five from the Tennessee 16-yard line with less than 4-1/2 minutes remaining. He had another incompletion on fourth and 11 from the Tennessee 21-yard line in the game’s final minute.

“Disappointed that we didn’t play the kind of football we needed to play to win the game,” Harbaugh said. “That’ll stick with us for a long time.”