OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- All the talk leading up to Sunday's Baltimore Ravens-Tennessee Titans game was about a reunion with defensive coordinator Dean Pees and the need to keep quarterback Marcus Mariota from escaping the pocket.
How the discourse has changed between these teams from nearly two decades ago.
For a three-year run -- from 1999 to 2001 -- the Ravens' chief rival wasn't the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was Steve McNair, Eddie George, Jevon Kearse and anyone who wore the Columbia blue of the Titans.
The Ravens and Titans bypassed any political correctness and didn't even act like the franchises had mutual respect for one another as they battled for control of the division as well as AFC supremacy.