Tom Matte on this Sunday's Ravens-Titans matchup
With the chance to talk to Tom Matte this morning about the Ravens-Titans matchup this weekend, the two-time Pro Bowl running back broke down his keys to the Ravens picking up the win and moving to 3-1 on the season.
Check out what Matte says the Ravens need out of their offensive and defensive lines, field positioning for special teams and what surprises they'll need up their sleeve to take one over the Titans.
1. "The first key is depending on our offensive line to do a great job. The defense of Tennessee, their front four is probably the best that they will face this year. Overall, I think that's the best defensive line in the league, other than the Ravens, of course. I think the two tackles have like 8.5 sacks.
The defensive ends -- Javon Kearse, he's known as "The Freak", he comes around that corner real sharp, so our tackles are going to have a tough job. But the internal lineman, with Jason Brown leading that bunch, are going to have a tough time blocking these guys. So it's going to take another big effort by our offensive line to be able to hang in there.
2. "The second key to the game is our defense. We're going to have to do the same thing that they're doing to us. We're going to have to have the same kind of pressure put on them to be able to control their run game and really shake up Kerry Collins. I think he still has nightmares from the Super Bowl, so I'm hoping we can keep that kind of pressure on him.
3. "The third thing is our special teams. You take a look at our special teams last week, we didn't have the great field position that we had before. Figurs got decked a couple of times. I would think about putting Jim Leonhard back there again; he did such a good job for us.
4. "I think we have to have some surprises for them. Cam Cameron has been able to do that in all the other games we've played. The unbalanced line is something that's very effective, and is something I think we should use more of.
5. "One other guy that I think has not been utilized is Todd Heap. Todd Heap has not been utilized at all. I'm not sure whether or not Flacco has confidence in him because he's dropped a couple passes -- one in the end zone and another one across the middle. Last week he was used more as a blocker and we should have probably put an offensive line number on him, like 78 or something.
This week, we should be able to capitalize on getting him isolated on the safeties out there. We can take advantage of that if Flacco has enough time to throw the football."
Leave a comment