Titans vs Ravens Comprehensive Preview: Offense

The Titans face of against their old AFC Central rivals in the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. Ahead of the game, we break down the Titans match-ups by position group, starting with the offense today;

Quarterback

The Titans are going into game two of the Zach Mettenberger era, and against a blitz happy Baltimore defense no less. I wrote the other day that Mettenberger should benefit greatly from the added starting snaps and film study during the Titans bye week, and building chemistry with his receivers should only improve with time. Mettenberger will be tasked with standing tall in the pocket against a squad that blitzes more than 20% of the time, and will no doubt show little hesitancy in committing extra rushers to ruffle the feathers of the young signal caller.

How Mettenberger reacts to this pressure will be key to the end result of the day. While the Titans may not have the playoffs on their mind, this next game should give the team plenty of added information on Zach Mettenberger's feasibility to be "the guy" in 2015. He should have his way on the outsides, where the Ravens are severely banged up at cornerback. Hopefully Whisenhunt and Mett can take advantage of the opportunities behind the Ravens front seven.

Receiving

As stated, the Ravens lack of healthy talent at corner should pay dividends. Justin Hunter has yet to cash in on the pre season hype, but he will have a chance to do some damage over the top in this one, especially with the vertically-oriented Mettenberger at the helm. Kendall Wright should also be able to carve out some territory for himself, notably as an outlet on blitzes. The Titans haven't used him much on screen plays as they did in the past, but breaking out some of those older plays (even as unflashy as they were) might grease the wheels of the offense.

Delanie Walker has been a legitimate star this season, both as a blocker and as a pass catcher. Chances are good that Ken Whisenhunt and Jason Michael utilize him plenty to get Zach Mettenberger comfortable, and take advantage of positional advantages against the Ravens linebackers.

Offensive Line

On the offensive line, things haven't been as steady as the Titans would have liked. There have been struggles on the right side where Chance Warmack and Michael Oher have underwhelmed. Andy Levitre has also been far below expected standards. Haloti Ngata poses a big challenge to this group. Oher has a nightmare-scenario match-up against Terrell Suggs/Elvis Dumervil. Standout rookie LT Taylor Lewan inspires confidence in such battles, so look for the Titans to run the ball on that side Sunday. It's going to be difficult for the Titans to move the ball without keeping Mettenberger clean, and generating consistent gains in the running game.

Rushing

The Titans running game has been a curious case this season. Bishop Sankey will likely take the lion's share of the snaps against the Ravens, a tough task with the Baltimore squad allowing an average of only 86.4 rushing yards per game. Ken Whisenhunt told the media that Shonn Greene will also be back, and that he wants to get the power back more carries. Whether that is a positive thing or not is yet to be seen, but the Titans may need him Sunday.