Ravens seek rebound after loss to Browns
The Baltimore Ravens will see a familiar face on the Tennessee Titans’ sidelines in Week 6.
Dean Pees spent six seasons as the defensive coordinator in Baltimore before he retired in January. However, Pees accepted the same position in Tennessee less than a month later.
“It’s more unusual than the average game. You don’t have that every week,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. “Does it give the Titans any strategic advantage? I don’t know. We’ll find out. I mean, we’ll find out. It is what it is. It’s not worth one second of (analyzing) who has the advantage. It would be a waste of time.”
Pees had tight connections in Tennessee. Head coach Mike Vrabel played with the New England Patriots where Pees was as a linebackers coach (2004-05) and defensive coordinator (2006-09). Earlier this year, Vrabel hired Pees’ son, Matt, to serve as a quality control staff member.
Harbaugh clearly sees Pees influence when watching tape of the Titans.
“I feel like I can make most of the calls – I know the names (of) most of the calls – but he has added some wrinkles,” Harbaugh said. “There’s no doubt about that. Like any good coach does, he’s evolved the defense a little bit, and I’m sure he’ll have some new ideas for this game. Coaches change. Coaches, week-to-week, do what they do, but we do know the names of most of the defenses.”
While the matchup with Pees is an interesting storyline, the Ravens are more focused on bouncing back from a disappointing performance against Cleveland in Week 5. Baltimore failed to score a touchdown in the 12-9 overtime loss.
After starting the season going 13-of-13 in the red zone, the Ravens haven’t scored a touchdown since the first quarter of Week 4 in Pittsburgh — the NFL’s longest active streak.
Baltimore also allowed 342 yards passing and a touchdown to Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield. A breakdown in the secondary led to a long play downfield in overtime, setting up the game-winning, 37-yard field goal by Greg Joseph with two seconds remaining.
Harbaugh said the key to this game will be containing Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota and the rest of the Titans playmakers.
“We just have to play good defense,” he said. “Tennessee has very good offense. They have very good players. They have a quarterback that’s a pass and a run quarterback, creates a problem for you.”
In addition, the Ravens will face a challenge attacking the Titans, who are ranked sixth in overall defense. The players are optimistic they can make some plays against their former coordinator.
“Compared to other teams, I’m sure it’ll be a little bit familiar,” quarterback Joe Flacco said about facing Pees. “But having said that, they have different players. Defensive coordinators do a really good job of game-planning for individual teams and also game-planning in ways that set up to the strengths of their individual players. Even though some of the looks will all look very familiar, there are going to be different guys over there, and we’ll see what they want to do against us.”
SERIES HISTORY: 20th regular-season meeting. Titans lead series, 10-9. Baltimore visits the Titans for the second straight season, following 2017’s 23-20 defeat at Nissan Stadium. Overall, the Ravens are 4-6 in Tennessee. Under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens are 2-3 overall against Tennessee (1-3 regular season and 1-0 postseason).
