Head coach Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans didn’t go into Baltimore expecting to stop Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ option attack. The gameplan was to contain him. They wanted to limit the explosive plays, make the Ravens drive the length of the field, and play stifling red-zone and fourth-down defense. The excellent gameplan of defensive coordinator Dean Pees and Vrabel used tactics to force Jackson to run laterally and the Titans’ defenders executed harmoniously.



“The players understood the scheme, some of the keys to trying to stop [Jackson]” Vrabel said after the game. “When he gained yards, he was getting them between the hashes and the numbers. When we defended from number to number and made him go laterally, they weren’t big plays. And then we were able to get some stops. It could have been a lot better if we were able to get him off the field on some of those third-and-long situations, but we didn’t. We played great...