Predictions Summary Projections by Position Projection Team Boxes

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Prediction: TEN 3, BAL 24 (Line: BAL by 10)

UPDATE: Nate Washington had a full practice on Friday but is still listed as questionable because of his shoulder. He is still expected to play.

The Titans come off their bye with a 2-6 record and a two game losing streak. The Ravens are 5-4 and also on a two game losing stretch that needs to end immediately if they have any designs about competing in the suddenly strong AFC North.

The Titans come off their bye but remain on a two game losing streak. The offense remains largely incapable of posting more than 17 points in any game and the defense is not quite good enough too often. Swapping out Charlie Whitehurst for Zach Mettenberger makes sense for the long term and he was impressive in his first game. But the next month has the Titans on the road three times and home against the Steelers. Not likely to be quite as productive.

QUARTERBACK : In his first game, Zach Mettenberger passed for 299 yards and two scores versus the Texans while losing a fumble and throwing one interception. Those are great numbers for a debut game but it came at home and much of it happened after the Titans were far behind. Mettenberger will be hard pressed to replicate that anytime soon.

RUNNING BACK : Not any change here and therein lies the problem. Bishop Sankey took a home game against the Texans and ended with only 35 yards on nine runs. His best effort of the year was only 61 yards against the Jaguars and he’s only scored once. His best feature is that all the other running backs for the Titans are even worse. He rarely gets more than ten carries in a game and the blocking is a problem. But so far Sankey is no solution. He’s not enough to lift the Texans up and the rest of the offense is not nearly good enough to support him.

WIDE RECEIVER : Even with the higher passing yardage in the loss to the Texans, the wideouts still did not matter much. Justin Hunter caught four passes for 31 yards and one score. Kendall Wright (3-53) and Nate Washington (4-68) had their normal mediocre games. While it is nice that his first game resulted in a score for Hunter, Mettenberger hasn’t made any of the three more fantasy relevant.

TIGHT END : Delanie Walker ended with 37 yards and a touchdown on four catches in the first start by Mettenberger and that’s roughly around where he ends up in most games. Mettenberger threw him nine targets – only Hunter (10) had more.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: Not looking good. The Ravens at home have only given up three touchdowns over four games and you can forget about Mettenberger mimicking Ben Roethlisberger last week. The Ravens are going to be focused and have to win. No runner has scored or ever gained more than 59 yards in Baltimore so Sankey gets yet another disappointing afternoon. This has all the signs of a possible shut out.

The Ravens are on the bottom looking up in the division and have already been swept by the Bengals and traded wins with the Steelers. After this game comes the bye to rest up but all the important games in the division have already happened other than the season finale hosting the Browns. All the Ravens can do now is try to win as much as they can and hope the Steelers, Bengals and Browns all beat each other up while losing non-divisional games.

QUARTERBACK : Joe Flacco has thrown a respectable 16 touchdowns on the season but those included two road games where he failed to score at all. For the purposes of this week, Flacco is a lock for decent yardage and a couple of touchdowns when in Baltimore.

RUNNING BACK : Justin Forsett remains the primary back but has not scored since week five and has been on a month long decline in carries and yardage mostly related to the schedule. Fortunately, Forsett can step up with receiving yardage to smooth over the week as he did when he only gained 38 rushing yards in Pittsburgh but added five catches for 67 yards. Lorenzo Taliaferro gets about ten touches per game as well and has recent been used as a receiver more as well. His main value will remain as a goal line scorer. He leads the Ravens with four rushing touchdowns.

WIDE RECEIVER : Steve Smith has been pretty quiet since week six but these last two weeks went against decent secondaries and should be primed to bounce back this week. Torrey Smith scored in the loss to the Steelers and even had 63 yards. Troubling is that he not only also scored with 81 yards in week seven but that he sandwiched those two efforts with zero catches in Cincinnati. No other receivers matter here and Smith Sr. was red hot until just the last few weeks. He’s already become an important part of the offense and a sign of how well the game is going.

TIGHT END : Owen Daniels only scored in two games this year – just once in the last six weeks. But he is good for around 50 yards in every game and ends up with four to six catches. Daniels has only scored in home games so far.

MATCH TO THE DEFENSE: The Titans rank about average on defense because half their opponents elect to run all over them and the other half will pass. Forsett should bounce back this week with a good game but the touchdown may end up with Taliaferro. The Titans have already allowed three runners to break 120 yards on them. The defense is weak against tight ends and wideouts both. Eight different wideouts have recorded at least 87 yards on their secondary and Smith Sr. needs a good game. Forsett and Steve Smith are strong starts here and Flacco, Taliaferro, Daniels and even Torrey Smith are just moderate starts with a little upside and just as much risk.

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