The Baltimore Ravens had the game in their hands before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. The Ravens will next turn their attention to London where they’ll face the Tennessee Titans.
But Baltimore will have to shake off a rough 17-10 loss to the Steelers first. The Ravens seemed to be in the driver seat after Kevon Seymour recovered a fumbled punt deep in Pittsburgh territory. Two plays later, Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. intercepted a Lamar Jackson pass in the end zone when the Ravens were trying to add to their lead. That was the turning point leading to a Kenny Pickett to George Pickens touchdown to take the lead.
The Ravens squandered an opportunity to go 3-0 in the division with all three wins coming on the road. Now, it’s on to the next opponent.
“At the end of the day, we’re 3-2 and 2-1 in the division,” linebacker Roquan Smith said. “This Pittsburgh game, it sucks at the end of the day, but we just have to look at it as a learning experience. Take the positives from it and build off the negatives, and that’s all we can do. We just look forward to getting over to London, learning from this and moving on to the Titans.”
Baltimore decided to travel across the pond on Monday to get a head start on the week. This marks the earliest arrival for any of the teams playing in London this year. The Ravens went to London six years ago and suffered a bad 44-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Multiple players said they were fatigued after arriving in London the Thursday before their 2017 game.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh is looking to avoid that this time around.
“Hopefully, by the time the game comes around we will have slept there six nights,” Harbaugh said. “You’d like to think we’ll be pretty well ready to go. I think that’s probably a big part of the decision to try and do it this way. Other teams go in there and say, ‘OK, we’re not going to mess with it. We’ll just stay on our own clock and play at 9:30 [British time] and we’ll get in and out. We don’t have to deal with it. It’s just kind of two schools of thought.”
The Ravens have moved their whole operation to London for the week. They’ll train at the Tottenham Hot Spur facility before the game. The Titans haven’t played in London since 2018 when they lost a close 20-19 game to the Los Angeles Chargers. Tennessee flew to London Thursday night.
Baltimore expects a physical game on Sunday. The Ravens beat the Titans on the road in the 2021 Wild Card playoffs the last time they played each other. Tennessee gave the Ravens a stinging loss at M&T Bank Stadium in the divisional round of the 2020 playoffs.