Can the Titans continue their Cinderella run in Nashville?

The 2009 NFL playoffs continue this weekend as the Ravens visit the Titans in Nashville, Tennessee in the AFC divisional playoffs. The Ravens are expected to make some adjustments heading into this one and since they have shown some resiliency in coach Harbaugh’s first season in Baltimore, that should not be a problem.

By winning in Miami last week, the Baltimore Ravens improved to 6-3 on the road. That’s a drastic improvement from the 1-7 road record they had under Brian Billick last season.

However, it should be hard to get a win over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The Titans are 7-1 at LP Field this season, that’s good for the second-best home record in the NFL.

The last time these two teams met, the Ravens lost to the Titans, 13-10, on Oct.5. But since then, Baltimore’s signature defense has turn it up a notch. They beat the high-powered offense Dallas was raving about all year long before holding the Jaguars to just seven points in their last game of the regular season. And after the Ravens managed to come up with the most lopsided win of the wild card round after beating the Dolphins, 27-9, yes, that Baltimore defense is back stronger than ever. Granted, the Titans have the seventh best rushing attack in the league and rookie Chris Johnson brings an added dimension to the field, but Mike Heimerdinger has his hands full this week trying to come up with a game plan to move the ball against a Baltimore defense allowing just over 15 points a game this season.

Baltimore will also have the young Joe Flacco, who has simply been phenomenal for the Ravens the last few weeks. Flacco passed with flying colors last week while playing mistake-free football, running for the game-clinching score in the fourth quarter.

This week, he’ll have to do a hell of a lot more than completing 9 of 23 passes for 135 yards against a Tennessee defense that could have DT Albert Haynesworth and DE Kyle Vanden Bosch back on their defensive line. If both players are in the lineup Saturday, Flacco will feel the heat up the middle and from the edges, forcing him to get rid of the ball in a timely manner.

Overall, this is the best defensive matchup of the year and this game will probably come down to who turns the ball over.

The Ravens will have history on their side come gametime. The last time these two teams met in the AFC divisional playoffs, it was after the 2000-01 season when the Ravens also entered the postseason through a wild card berth, playing the top-seeded Titans in the divisional round.

The Ravens won that game on their way to winning the Super Bowl, also in Tampa, Florida.

‘’Both these teams are pretty much built the same way as those teams were back in 2000,'’ Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. ‘’They play good defense, they run the football and they have exceptional special teams, and they’re very physical teams. That’s the kind of matchup you expect to see in this round of the playoffs.'’

Can the Baltimore Ravens beat the Tennessee Titans in the AFC divisional playoffs again? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Baltimore Ravens +3 (1.83)

Tennessee Titans -3 (2.00)

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