Justin Tucker's golden foot leads Ravens to 24-16 win over Titans
The NFL said goodbye to London on Sunday, and it did it with a bizarre, defense-heavy game that showed off kicker Justin Tucker's incredible accuracy.
On the back of Tucker's six field goals, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Tennessee Titans 24-16. The Titans' defense held the Ravens to one touchdown, but the Ravens' defense also showed up, stifling the Titans and allowing just 104 passing yards.
The first half of this matchup was all Ravens. Quarterback Lamar Jackson looked loose and focused from the start, showing off his accuracy, but had trouble closing out drives with touchdowns. The Ravens got the ball inside the 25-yard line five times in the first half, but only one of those resulted in a touchdown (caught by Zay Flowers for his first career score). The other four were field goals, all successful thanks to Tucker's golden foot.
The Titans' defense had made its mark. With five chances to score, the Ravens made it into the end zone just once.
Meanwhile, the Titans' offense looked completely lost in the first half. The Titans couldn't handle the suffocating Ravens defense, and QB Ryan Tannehill's arm wasn't getting it done. In the first half Sunday, Tennessee managed a field goal but the rest of the time it was committing penalties and being generally unsuccessful at the game of football. The Titans had the makings of a really good drive early in the second quarter, but an illegal formation penalty erased a 14-yard gain and the Titans went three-and-out. The half ended with their punt returner muffing the catch and the Ravens recovering with enough time to kick another field goal to make it 18-3.
Jackson did more running in the second half as the Titans' defense got an even tighter handle on him and the rest of the Ravens' offense. And Tennessee actually scored a TD in the third quarter, though the offense didn't have all that much to do with it. They made just three plays to score that touchdown, thanks to an interception by Sean Murphy-Bunting.
Tannehill came into this game looking for redemption. In the first five games of the season, he'd thrown two TDs and five interceptions. The only thing he added to that total Sunday was an interception. He completed 8 of 16 passes for 76 yards with one interception and two sacks before being carted off in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. He was replaced by Malik Willis, who didn't have much luck and took sack after sack from a still-hungry Ravens defense.
Down 24-16 with 38 seconds left, the Titans tried an onside kick. They hadn't made a successful onside kick for over a decade, and that didn't change Sunday.
This was a messy game for the Titans (2-4), but they're returning to the U.S. with a Week 7 bye, so Tannehill will get to rest for two weeks. The Ravens (4-2) head back to Baltimore, where they'll get ready to host the Detroit Lions next week.
