Tennessee @ Baltimore preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 18, 2011 ) Baltimore 13, Tennessee 26

After an embarrassing road defeat that forced a handful of changes on the defensive side, the Baltimore Ravens look to rebound at home when they take on the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. The Ravens gave up six passing touchdowns in a 43-23 loss at Pittsburgh last weekend and have dropped two straight to sink to the cellar in the competitive AFC North. However, Baltimore has won three straight at home and is 30-6 at M&T Bank Stadium since the start of the 2010 season.

Rookie Zach Mettenberger will be making his first career road start for the Titans, who are coming off a bye week after losing 30-16 to Houston in Week 8. Mettenberger threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns in the setback, a solid effort for the league's 24th-ranked passing attack entering this week's play. The Texans amassed 212 rushing yards against Tennessee's 28th-ranked run defense, which will be attacked by Ravens rushers Justin Forsett and Lorenzo Taliaferro.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: -9.5. O/U: 43.5

ABOUT THE TITANS (2-6): The Titans hope that the bye week helped Mettenberger get in some much-needed work as he enters a tough road test and looks to attack a porous Ravens pass defense. "Getting the time during the bye week was good, because like I said, we got a lot of plays," coach Ken Whisenhunt said, according to The Tennessean. "(Mettenberger) got the majority of those, which is invaluable, and hopefully that'll help us as we go forward." Mettenberger is known for his arm strength and may be able to take some shots down field against a Baltimore secondary that has allowed 34 pass plays of 20 yards or more, fourth-most in the league entering Week 10.

ABOUT THE RAVENS (5-4): While the two-game losing streak has cast a bit of a cloud in Baltimore, the squad has the best point differential (plus-66) in the division and a cast of characters having outstanding seasons from a statistical perspective. Quarterback Joe Flacco's 2,353 passing yards puts him on pace to shatter Vinny Testaverde's 1996 team record (4,177) while Forsett's 5.4 yards per carry - which leads the AFC - would surpass Jamal Lewis' club mark (5.3) established in 2003. Wide receiver Steve Smith (711 receiving yards), who needs 92 yards to become the 16th player in NFL history to reach 13,000, is on pace to break Michael Jackson's team record (1,201) from 1996.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Tennessee's Delanie Walker is second among AFC TEs with 475 receiving yards.

2. Ravens WR Torrey Smith has five TDs in his last six games.

3. Titans WR Nate Washington (shoulder) is questionable.

PREDICTION: Ravens 30, Titans 20