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Titans rally to beat Ravens, stay unbeaten

Oct 5, 2008 - 10:23 PM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Corresponding Writer

BALTIMORE (Ticker) -- Kerry Collins and the Tennessee Titans still have the magic.

Collins tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler with 1:56 remaining as the Titans rallied for a 13-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday to remain unbeaten.

Tennessee heads into its bye week with a 5-0 record - a mark that has surprised everyone except Titans coach Jeff Fisher.

"I don't think any of you (media) guys thought we were going to go 5-0 into the bye week," Fisher said. "I did."

Fisher's team remained perfect because Collins saved his best work for last. Through three quarters, he was held to 91 yards passing.

But the 35-year-old quarterback, who has led the Titans to four wins after taking over for the injured Vince Young, engineered an 11-play, 80-yard drive that was assisted by two Baltimore penalties.

Collins was helped by a critical third down penalty against Terrell Suggs, who was flagged after hitting the quarterback in the helmet, and an infraction for 12 players on the field two plays before the score.

"If anybody can go back and show me something I did illegal, then I would be happy to oblige and say: 'I messed up and I got what I deserved - a personal foul,' " Suggs said.

"When you are nowhere near his head, we hit arms, we hit arms. It just goes to show the referee has too much power in the game."

However, referee Bill Carollo, who made the call, said Suggs clearly hit Collins.

"He got him on the side of the helmet - the right side of the helmet," Carollo told a pool reporter. "We're blowing the whistle, blowing the whistle. He may not have heard that -and we're going to give him that, but he still can't hit the quarterback on the helmet."

Collins completed a critical third down pass to Bo Scaife for 15 yards down to the Baltimore 11, then found Crumpler for the go-ahead score on the next play.

"It wasn't very pretty for 3 1/2 quarters," Collins said. "You could feel the sense of urgency in guys."

Collins threw two first-half interceptions, but finished 17-of-32 for 163 yards.

"I realized I had to stop making bonehead plays," he said. "At some point, you've got to stop being boneheaded and doing boneheaded things."

Crumpler, who joined the Titans this season after seven years with Atlanta, had been frustrated about his lack of involvement with the offense. He had just five catches in the first four games. Even though he only had two Sunday, his second catch was huge.

"We got a perfect call at the right time," Crumpler said. "Ray (Lewis) jumped underneath."

All week long, Collins kept hearing questions about his Super Bowl loss to the Ravens seven years ago as a member of the New York Giants.

"It's hard to forget that one," Collins said. "Sure, I wanted to beat them, but most of all, I wanted to go 5-0."

Continuing their heated rivalry from their days in the old AFC Central, the teams combined for 169 yards in penalties, including 111 in the first half.

"Everybody expected a game like this," Fisher said. "We knew were going to have to score a touchdown."

Baltimore (2-2), which was coming off an overtime defeat in Pittsburgh on Monday night, lost its second straight game under rookie quarterback Joe Flacco.

"We let two games the last two weeks get away from us," Flacco said.

Flacco, who was 18-of -27 for 153 yards, had 12 straight completions during one point, but also was picked off twice. His final interception came when the Ravens got back the ball after Crumpler's touchdown.

"I made a couple of bad decisions today," Flacco said. "I've got to get better at that."

Baltimore took a 10-3 lead on Le'Ron McClain's 1-yard TD run in the third quarter. The touchdown was the first score allowed by Tennessee in the third period this season.

The teams traded field goals in a sluggish first half that ended 3-3.

"This is a very disappointing loss, one that we are hurting about," Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. "We should have won the football game."