Ravens running back Jamal Lewis didn't find the cure for 35 minutes of frustration by grinding out a first-down run or a making a punishing catch. He found it in a tackle, and an illegal one at that.
After Lance Schulters intercepted a Jeff Blake pass intended for Todd Heap, Lewis slung down the Titans' safety -- a good 2 yards out of bounds. The 15-yard personal foul Lewis was assessed appeared to be a costly mistake.
The Titans trailed just 10-6 at the time -- with 8:50 left in the third quarter -- and the penalty gave Tennessee the ball on the Ravens' 46-yard line.
"That was out of frustration," Lewis said. "I kind of lost it a little bit, and that doesn't happen often. But I can't lie. I felt better after. We picked up the tempo after that."
At halftime of yesterday's 13-12 victory over Tennessee at Ravens Stadium, Lewis was a nonfactor, rushing only six times for 12 yards. He gained 9 of those yards on one carry.
But Lewis would finish with 95 yards on 17 carries. Even though he fumbled in the fourth quarter at the Titans' 13-yard line, which Billick emphatically said was not the running back's fault, it was Lewis who ate some clock, moved the chains and energized a Ravens offense that sputtered in the passing game.
"Jeff Blake stood up last night and said we need to find our niche. I think that's what we were trying to find today." Lewis said. "We tried to open them up and that's the reason I wasn't in the game."
"I gave it [the game plan] time to work. I know against this team, we can run the ball, and that's when I said, 'If nothing else is working, I'll take the lead and I'll be the workhorse.' That's what I got to be."
Left tackle Jonathan Ogden paved the way for many of Lewis' big second-half gains. "We needed to try and pound him, and he was making a lot of good runs," Ogden said. "He was getting hit at the line of scrimmage, dragging people 3 or 4 yards. He feels and we feel that he gets stronger the more he runs and the later in the game it is."
The third-year running back's frustrations reached their peak in the third quarter. After Lewis hooked up with Blake on a 13-yard pass, the Ravens had a fourth-and-one on the Titans' 35. Nearly everybody in the stadium expected Lewis to get the ball, but instead Blake stepped back to throw. Schulters stepped in front of a well-covered Heap for the interception.
The Ravens forced the Titans to punt on the ensuing drive, and the offense turned over the keys to Lewis the rest of the way.
On the drive after Joe Nedney's 40-yard field goal that made it 13-9 early in the fourth quarter, Lewis ran off left tackle for 6 yards, then straight up the middle for 30. Spelled by Chester Taylor for one play, Lewis returned and reeled off a 10-yard run. On the next play, with the Titans' defense focused on the 5-foot-11, 231-pound back, Travis Taylor took a reverse 6 yards down to the Titans' 11.
That drive eventually stalled on Lewis' fumble, but the Ravens went back to him the next time they had the ball. He responded with a 17-yard run to get the ball near midfield. That loomed large in the field-position game when Dave Zastudil's 43-yard punt pinned the Titans inside their 10.
"I knew they couldn't hold us. They couldn't stop the run," said Lewis, who averaged 68 yards in three games against the Titans in the 2000 season. "They stack eight or nine in the box, but with the defense they run, we can really hit the outside, and that's what I was doing."