Ravens Have Last Word In Heated Rivalry With Titans
Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters is one of the most vocal players on the defense.
So, when he intercepted Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill that sealed Baltimore's 20-13 victory in the AFC wild-card game, Peters sent a message to the Titans.
Peters and several other Ravens players stomped on Tennessee's logo at midfield in retribution for the Titans doing the same at M&T Bank Stadium in Week 11.
"We were on the logo, OK," Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. "We just like to celebrate; you know what I mean? It was a good celebration, I think. Usually, whoever makes the play, you run to that person; that person just so happened to end up being on the logo. It was a celebration. It was a game-winner by Marcus.
"Marcus wanted me to speak on his behalf, today. Basically, what he wanted to tell me [to say] was a song lyric, but I don’t really know the song lyric. My summarization of what Marcus wanted to tell you guys was, ‘Go Ravens.’ So, that is [me] speaking on [Marcus’] behalf.”
Peters was not available after the game.
The referees threw a penalty flag for taunting against Peters, but it didn't make a difference as Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was able to run out the clock.
Jackson later walked off the field at the end of the game without shaking hands with the Titans because of the previous logo incident. Apparently, Tennessee's brash gesture did cut deep with the Ravens.
“I feel it was just disrespect to see what went on before the game the last time we played those guys, and they were standing on our logo and seeing them get into it with our [head] coach," Jackson said. "That was just disrespectful, because we treat all of our opponents with respect. It wasn’t no reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that. We’ll be the bigger guy, so we just walked off the field. I feel like we were being the bigger guys. And my favorite run was the kneel. I didn’t really have a favorite run [other] than kneeling at the end.”
It wasn't the first time the Titans disrespected Baltimore.
Following last season's 28-12 win in an AFC Divisional playoff game, Tennessee players made fun of the Ravens' catchphrase "Big Truss," which was used to describe the trust among the players.
Titans safety Kevin Byard chanted "Big Truss" as he walked back into the locker room following the game.
Wide receiver Tajae Sharpe later mocked Ravens running back Mark Ingram to introduce running back Derrick Henry in the postgame news conference. Henry ran for 195 yards and threw a 3-yard touchdown in the game.
Several Titans players also chanted "Easy Money," following that game.
After the Titans players gathered on the Ravens logo prior to their Week 11 matchup, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh immediately confronted Tennessee cornerback Malcolm Butler and coach Mike Vrabel.
"It's disrespectful," Harbaugh shouted.
Tennessee won the game 30-24 in overtime.
There were no confrontations after Peters evened the personal score. The Titans apparently understood the retribution.
Nonetheless, this saga could continue when the teams inevitably meet again.
"This was an emotional football game, and sometimes you just act out of emotion. And I felt like it was a good time to go ahead and do that, so we did it," Baltimore defensive end Derek Wolfe said about the logo incident. "It wasn’t a disrespect thing. It was more like a team-unity thing; like we accomplished something as a team, so we’re going to go out there and take a little bit of revenge, I guess. But I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
