Titans outlast Ravens, now 5-0

BALTIMORE — Quarterback Kerry Collins said Sunday’s 13-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was the type of outcome that could forge an identity for the Tennessee Titans.

Judging by the way the game unfolded, it was more like identity theft by the Titans.

The Titans, in a typical street fight battle with the Ravens that included 21 combined penalties for 169 yards, won the game at M&T Bank Stadium in similar fashion to the way Baltimore dashed many a Titans’ hope when they were division rivals in the old AFC Central.

It was Collins’ 11-yard touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler with 1:56 to play that gave the Titans their only lead of the day and the only lead that mattered as Tennessee clawed and scratched its way to a 5-0 record.

“Guys will see that regardless of the circumstances, I’m going to keep playing and that to me is how you build that trust and rapport with your teammates,” said Collins, who had just 33 yards passing and was picked off twice in the first half. “I’m not going to say it’s always going to be great, because for three-and-a-half quarters, it wasn’t great. Slowly, I think we’re building an identity and building something here.”

The game followed a typical Titans-Ravens script from so many games in the past with strong defense, aggressive play and offensive mistakes on both sides.

“It was like welcome back to the Titans-Ravens showdown,” defensive end Jevon Kearse said. “Besides the one we lost in the playoffs at our place [in 2000 playoffs], it’s always close and low-scoring and nobody knows how it’s going to come out until the end.”

The Titans overcame their own self-destructive ways Sunday just in time to make sure they would claim the victory over their old rival.

Both Baltimore scoring drives came with a big assist from Tennessee’s defense committing costly personal fouls and other penalties to keep the Ravens’ drives alive.

So much for what was written on the dry erase board in the Titans’ locker room, the words: “Nothing for free. Offsides, personal fouls.”

In the first quarter, after Justin Hannan intercepted a tipped Kerry Collins pass at the Baltimore 38, the Titans had seemingly snuffed out the threat until a personal foul penalty after a third down incompletion put the Ravens’ offense back on the field. On the drive, Baltimore took a 3-0 lead on Matt Stover’s 38-yard field goal. The drive only went 46 yards, with 30 of that coming courtesy of four Tennessee penalties.

“I don’t think it was what they were doing,” Chris Hope said. “It was us — offsides, personal fouls, us pretty much beating ourselves. That’s where the frustration came in.”

The Titans tied the game in the second quarter after a Michael Griffin interception led to Rob Bironas’ 35-yard field goal. It was Tennessee’s only points of the game to that point, despite three forays into Ravens territory.

The Titans’ problem with self-control reared its head again on the opening drive of the second half, this time with an even uglier mess.

Cornerback Cortland Finnegan and former Titans receiver Derrick Mason jawed and scuffled with each other, drawing offsetting penalties before Finnegan was hit with another personal foul of unnecessary roughness that put the ball at the Titans 11. Teammate Keith Bulluck was even seen shoving Finnegan in an attempt to get him to calm down.

“This game was a knockdown, dragout,” Finnegan said. “We’re a family and we stick behind one another. It’s just that some things happen. Definitely both teams are competitive teams. We want to be the best on defense, and they want to be the best. Let the punches fly and let’s have fun. It was just being competitive, when you get down to the end of the day, it was just about being competitive.

“I knew that I went somewhat too far, but I’m a competitor and I’m going to keep playing.”

Baltimore cashed in after an encroachment penalty on Albert Haynesworth where he took Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to the ground, setting up first and goal at the 2. Two plays later, Le’Ron McClain scored to put Baltimore up 10-3.

On the extra point, Haynesworth was tagged with another personal foul penalty, assessing 15 yards on the kickoff.

“We had to stop the bickering. We are professionals,” cornerback Nick Harper said. “We had a lot of bickering game. They killed us with the short passes, but we knew they were going to do that. We knew if we stopped the bickering, there was no way they could sustain a drive on us. We gave them two drives, so we felt like we gave them 10 points.”

When the drive was over, the Titans had to collect themselves and their composure to stay in the game and put the extra-curricular incidents aside.

“This defense is good. We know we’re good. We just got frustrated,” Haynesworth sasid. “DMase is like that little Chihuahua, always barking, and I guess you had two Chihuahuas with Cortland barking and fighting at each other. We know that’s how DMase plays, and that’s how Cortland plays, and we just got a little mad at each other. But once we got everything settled, we were all right.”

Except for numbers on the defensive line. The Titans lost Kyle Vanden Bosch to a first-half groin strain, and Tony Brown also did not return because of an injury. Haynesworth and Jacob Ford were not at full speed, but finished the game.

Tennessee managed to creep within 10-6 on Bironas’ 26-yard field goal with 12:51 to play, then got a break from the Ravens on their final drive when Terrell Suggs was called for roughing the passer, even though Titans tackle Michael Roos false-started. The “five and 15 rule” voided the false start and enforced the personal foul, moving the ball to the Titans 35 where Collins went back to work.

Collins was 6 of 10 on the drive, and with some help from the Ravens having 12 men on the field after an incompletion, drove the Titans in position for the clinching touchdown.

When it was over, Collins wasn’t about to offer any apologies for the way the game unfolded.

“I’ve been on the other side of so many that go the other way. A win is a win,” Collins said. “I’m not going to apologize for it, and I don’t think anybody else is going to apologize for it. You find ways to win games. That’s the bottom line in this league. It just so happened that it worked out for us today.”

Crumpler, who caught the game-winner, used a proper fight analogy to describe what happened in the game and on the final drive.

“We were more worried about trying to do a knockout punch instead of taking the jabs,” Crumpler said. “We were trying to knock a guy out, and that won’t work. We just have to stay committed to what we do. I think that last drive, we settled down and were able to make things happen.”

Then, the Tennessee defense, playing with a lead for the first time all game, then went to work on Flacco with Harper’s interception sealing the victory.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Collins said. “I thought our guys showed a lot of identity and character under some tough circumstances and made the plays we needed to make. … I like quarterbacking this team.”