Titans, Ravens Flush With Heisman Winners; Which Will Have Biggest Impact?

NASHVILLE – Five Heisman Trophy winners. One game.

It is one of the interesting subplots of Saturday’s NFL divisional playoff contest between the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens. Five of the last 11 winners of college football’s top individual honor will be concentrated on the playing surface at M&T Bank Stadium.

Not all of them are stars – or even starters – for their current teams, but all have shown at times they can produce big moments in the NFL. So, it might be that the obvious choices will be the most prominent performers. Perhaps one of the others suddenly will step into the spotlight.

Either way, chances are one or more will figure prominently into the outcome.

Ranking the five Heisman Trophy winners based on their expected impact on the outcome Saturday:

• Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore (Heisman 2016): He accounted for an NFL-best 43 touchdowns during the regular season (36 passing, seven rushing) and is all but certain to be named the league’s Most Valuable Player. He had 11 runs of 20 yards or more, which tied for the league lead, set a record for quarterbacks with 1,206 rushing yards and 40.3 percent of his carries resulted in first downs, easily the highest percentage among the top 20 rushers. Oh, and he completed 66 percent of his passes, finished with a 113.3 passer rating, which ranked third in the league and passed for more than 3,000 yards.

• Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee (Heisman 2015): The only reason he is second on this list is that Jackson will have the ball in his hands on every offensive snap. Henry clearly is central to the Titans’ success on offense but if they fall behind his carries could be limited. Henry has rushed for better than 150 yards in two of this three career playoff games, including 182 on 34 carries last Saturday at New England. He has rushed for better than 100 yards in six of his last seven games, and Tennessee is 11-0 when he gets to 100 or more.

• Mark Ingram, RB, Baltimore (Heisman 2009): Ingram made headlines this week when he missed Tuesday’s workout due to a calf injury. As the complement to Jackson on the NFL’s best rushing offense, his impact will be significant if he plays or if he does not. Ingram rushed for 1,018 yards and finished fourth in the league with 15 touchdowns (10 rushing, 5 receiving) as the Ravens set an NFL record with which set an NFL record with 3,296 yards as a team. He and Jackson became the seventh teammates ever (the first since 2009) to each top 1,000 yards rushing in the same season. (Hear Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees’ thoughts on defending the Ravens in the above video).

• Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee (Heisman 2014): It generally is best for any team that a backup quarterback doesn’t have much to do with the outcome of a game. However, in the last two Mariota has gotten three snaps with the offense as part of unique personnel packages. He has completed two passes for 28 yards and handed off one other time. There is an undeniable sense that coaches have been working to set up something big with him, and a game against the league’s best team might just be turn him loose for a snap or two to create or change momentum.

• Robert Griffin III, QB, Baltimore (Heisman 2011): Griffin does not figure to see much, if any action. He played in garbage time in six contests during the regular season before he played in place of Jackson, who was inactive, in Week 17. Everyone remembers well his physical skills from 2012, when he was Offensive Rookie of the Year with Washington, but at this point he is merely a lesser version of Jackson and a player to whom Baltimore does not want to have to turn.