Ravens vs. Titans final score recap: Everything you need to know

The Baltimore Ravens have punched their ticket to another week of meaningful football, defeating the Tennesse Titans 20-13 in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. They’ll have to watch the last remaining AFC game later tonight to find out who their divisional-round opponent will be, but they get to strap up the helmet once again next week.

This game clearly meant so much to not only Baltimore but quarterback Lamar Jackson. The narrative going into this game was the Ravens and Jackson were regular-season stars but couldn’t win the big games. Though it wasn’t the prettiest outing we’ve seen from either the defense or offense this season, it was enough to win.

If you’re as pumped up as we all are, you’re going to want to know all the information from this game. You’re in luck as we have everything from the score, top stars, top stats, and best quotes from the Ravens vs. Titans.

Final score

AP Photo/Mark Zaleski

Keys to the game:

AP Photo/Mark Zaleski

Get off the field on third down: Baltimore couldn't let its defense get ground down for a big upset at the end of the game like last time. That meant putting the hammer down on Derrick Henry, knocking balls down, and getting off the field on third downs. Hand it to the Ravens' defense, that's exactly what they did and it allowed them to remain fresh in the closing minutes when it felt like a disappointing big run was bound to be broken off. Baltimore finished the day allowing Tennessee to convert 4-of-12 third-down attempts (33%). It proved to be perhaps the biggest reason they won this game with the offense failing to strike as hot as they had in previous weeks. Receivers have to make big plays: No one is going to give Baltimore's wide receivers an award after that game but on pass catcher in particular had a big game when the Ravens needed it. Marquise Brown caught most of what was thrown his way, including a few ill-advised backward passes in terrible spots of the field. More importantly, Brown turned those short completions upfield and showed off his quickness to move the chains, keep drives alive, and hit on some pretty big plays. Tight end Mark Andrews and fullback Patrick Ricard deserve some love here too. While they weren't responsible for too many big plays, they were perfect counters for what Tennessee was doing defensively.

It was over when . . .

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It's the playoffs, so you can rarely call a game finished until the final whistle is blown. And with Henry's rushing prowess usually showing up big at the end of a game, Baltimore's defense had to come up big to cement the win with only minutes remaining and up by just a touchdown. . . . And there's Marcus Peters with the game-sealing interception. The momentum was already in the Ravens' favor and while the game technically wasn't yet over, there was little fear remaining after that play. The Titans looked defeated already and Baltimore was able to put the game to bed formally with some first-down runs.

Key stats:

AP Photo/Wade Payne

2.2 and 1: The Ravens' defense came up big against the best running back in the game right now. Baltimore held Henry to a paltry 2.2 yards-per-carry (18 attempts for 40 yards). He was held in check all game long, busting just one eight-yard run as his longest of the day. Perhaps even more impressive is that the Ravens held the Titans to just one first down on the ground, which actually came from quarterback Ryan Tannehill on fourth-down near the end of the game. It's also worth highlighting that Henry has had just three starts with a smaller YPC and only one of those saw him have 18 or more rushing attempts. For a guy that is likely in the running for the Offensive Player of the Year award, that's about as dominant as it gets defensively. 109: That's the number of receiving yards Ravens wide receiver Marquise Brown had on the day. Though he didn't catch many deep shots, Baltimore used Brown's quickness, getting him the ball in open space and allowing him to jolt upfield for solid gains.

Stars of the game:

⭐⭐⭐ OLB Pernell McPhee It started on the opening drive with McPhee having a grown-man day, and didn't stop. He was in the backfield often, shedding blockers, and tackling running back Derrick Henry single-handedly on too many plays to count. He was having such a dominant outing that the Titans actually started focusing on him to take him out and he still kept shedding blocks and making plays. ⭐⭐ WR Marquise Brown I've mentioned Brown already but he's worthy of another plug here. He's had bigger games on the stat sheet but I don't think Brown has had a bigger game in the NFL than this one. When everything else was being bottled up and Baltimore's offense was running the risk of completely stagnating, Brown got things rolling again. I also think Brown's short catch-and-runs that kept drives alive helped get quarterback Lamar Jackson into a better rhythm and ultimately allowed the Ravens to pull this one out. ⭐ QB Lamar Jackson Jackson didn't have his best game as a passer and things were open. His interception in the first quarter might just be his worst pass of the season. But boy, Jackson came up clutch when things were low. He finished the game completing 70.8% of his passes for 179 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception, but with 136 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown on 16 carries. It's his first playoff win too, stopping a tired narrative and silencing his biggest critics for at least a minute.

Quote of the game:

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