“There wasn’t any reason for us to shake hands,” Jackson said.
It was brash. It was disrespectful. And it was exactly what the Ravens want to tell the rest of the league. And a ticked off Ravens team is usually bad news for the rest of the NFL.
The Ravens’ big win is where we start the Wild Card weekend in review:
▪ The main storyline from the Ravens’ win was Jackson finally ridding himself of a few demons. He won his first playoff game after losing his first two (both at home). He defeated the Titans after losing the first two meetings. And he finally came from behind to win, with the Ravens overcoming an early 10-0 deficit. Jackson was underwhelming as a passer on Sunday but dynamic with his legs, rushing 16 times for 136 yards, including a highlight-reel 48-yard touchdown run.
But the engine of the Ravens’ success is their defense. Since a three-game losing streak to the Patriots, Titans, and Steelers, the Ravens’ defense has been lights-out. They were No. 4 in the NFL in points allowed (18.0) between Weeks 12-17, and probably would be No. 1 if not for a 47-42 win over the Browns. In their other five games, including the Titans, the Ravens have held the opponent to 17 or fewer points.
Sunday, they limited the Titans to 3 points over the final three quarters, suffocated Derrick Henry to 40 yards on 18 rushes, and held the Titans to just 209 total yards.
Coach John Harbaugh has won a Super Bowl, but called Sunday’s game “the No. 1 best win.”
“In perspective, it’s going to be a Top 5 for sure, but right now for me, it’s the best win ever,” he said. “Not just because of what was at stake, but because of the guys and what it meant to our team, to our guys. This may be the best win I’ve ever been associated with.”
The Ravens will travel to Buffalo for a Saturday night matchup.
▪ For the Titans, there’s no shame in losing to a strong Ravens team. The Titans’ offense ran into a buzzsaw and just didn’t have enough firepower on Sunday.
But coach Mike Vrabel sure did blow it in the fourth quarter with what may have been, statistically speaking, the worst coaching decision of the season.
The situation: Trailing 17-13 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Vrabel punted on fourth and 2 from the Ravens’ 40-yard line instead of going for it. The analytics websites were all over Vrabel.
The outfit EdjSports said that the decision to punt decreased the Titans’ chances of winning by 14 percent and was the most costly decision of the season outside of the final four minutes of a game. Pro Football Reference said it was “the first time in our database [complete back to 1994] that a team in the playoffs punted on 4th and 2 from this field position, down by one score in the 4th Quarter.” The “Surrender Index” ranked it in the “100th percentile of cowardly punts” for the 2020 season and in the “99.92 percentile of all punts since 2009.”
Vrabel is usually pretty good with being aggressive and playing the percentages. But he turned into a fraidy cat in the playoffs, and it cost his team dearly.
▪ Mitchell Trubisky may have gotten his team into the playoffs, but Sunday’s 21-9 loss to the Saints was why the Bears will be looking for a new quarterback this offseason.
The Saints’ defense is excellent, finishing in the top five in points and yards allowed this year, but Trubisky was brutal on Sunday. He threw for just 199 yards, with 93 of them coming on a meaningless final drive. The Bears gained just 239 yards and went 1 for 10 on third down. And Trubisky showed a glaring lack of awareness on a fourth-down run in the first half, running out of bounds short of the stick and not making nearly enough effort to convert the play.
Trubisky, the No. 2 overall pick in 2017, is almost certainly done in Chicago. Coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace may not be far behind.
▪ The worst performance of the weekend belonged to the Seattle Seahawks, who wasted a 12-4 season and lost, 30-20, to a Rams team that didn’t have a healthy quarterback.
The Seahawks had issues on the offensive line all game, allowing five sacks to a Rams defense that didn’t have to blitz much. They took dumb penalties (nine for 60 yards overall) — a false start on fourth and 1, running out of bounds on a punt, and twice getting themselves in first-and-25 situations. They had unimaginative play-calling (2 for 14 on third down) and telegraphed their plays, as when Russell Wilson threw a pick-six on a wide receiver screen.
And Wilson sleep-walked through the game, completing just 11-of-27 passes for 174 yards and showing no sign of urgency (several of those sacks were on him). Wilson has been decidedly average over the second half of the season, ranking 15th in passer rating and 21st in yards per attempt since Week 10.
Sean McVay is a heck of a coach, but the Seahawks should have romped. Jared Goff could barely grip the football and completed just 9-of-19 passes for 155 yards.
“I told these guys I have no place in my brain for this outcome. We were planning on winning and moving on,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game.
The Rams didn’t win as much as the Seahawks, who were unprepared and over-confident, lost this game. Carroll and Wilson should return their weekly paychecks for that performance.
▪ Washington fourth-string quarterback Taylor Heinicke was the best story of the weekend, going toe-to-toe with Tom Brady in a 31-23 loss. But Washington coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Scott Turner (son of Norv Turner) deserve a ton of credit for coaching up Heinicke and putting him in a position to succeed on Saturday night.
Washington finished 7-10, and needs to find a new quarterback this offseason, but Rivera did an excellent job in his first season. You can tell he’s building a good culture.
Tracking former Patriots
▪ Bucs QB Tom Brady: His 381 passing yards were his fourth-most in postseason history, behind Super Bowl 52 (505), Super Bowl 51 (466), and the 2017 AFC Championship Game against the Steelers (384).
▪ Bucs TE Rob Gronkowski: Didn’t have any catches Saturday night, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the excellent job he did in run blocking, particularly against Chase Young.
▪ Bucs WR Antonio Brown: Had two catches for 49 yards, including a 36-yard TD, plus one run for 22 yards. I’m surprised Brady isn’t targeting him more.
▪ Seahawks TE Jacob Hollister: Had zero catches on five targets against the Rams. Not the way you want to end a season.
▪ Titans K Stephen Gostkowski: Hit both field goal attempts (25 and 45) and his extra point in the loss to the Ravens. He only hit 18-of-26 field goals this year (5 of 10 from 40-49 yards), but finished the season by connecting on his last eight attempts.
▪ Titans CB Malcolm Butler: Had his second career postseason interception in the first quarter against the Ravens. You probably remember the first one.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin.
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