Ain't no party like a sack party, 'cause a sack party don't stop.
Early in the fourth quarter on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens compiled nine sacks of Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, tying a team record. With just one drive left, they went out to set a new mark.
"It's time to go hunt," defensive tackle Willie Henry said, via the Baltimore Sun. "We heard that, it was time to pin our ears back."
The Ravens continued their afternoon-long mauling of Mariota, taking down the quarterback on two of the final three plays to tally 11 sacks in their 21-0 victory over the Titans.
"They said if we get one more, we're going to break a record," linebacker Za'Darius Smith said. "So we went and got two more, right?"
Smith tallied three sacks, including the final one that re-set the record. Patrick Onwuasor (two sacks), Terrell Suggs, Matt Judon, Tony Jefferson, Kenny Young, Anthony Levine Sr. and Chris Wormley all got in on the sack party.
Sunday's sack fiesta blasted the team record of nine, which Baltimore had obtained three times. According to ELIAS, it marked the third time in which a team had 11-plus sacks in a shutout since team sacks were recorded in 1963.
Don 'Wink' Martindale's unit had Mariota seeing ghosts, as the Titans QB was unsure where the pressure was coming from all day. Mariota completed just 10 passes while taking 11 sacks, becoming the first player since Jay Cutler in 2010 to be sacked more times than he completed a pass. Mariota was pressured on 53.8 percent of his dropbacks, highest in a game so far this season (min. 14 attempts).
Ravens defenders wanted to get the team record for Martindale, who took over for ex-defensive coordinator Dean Pees. Pees retired this offseason, then unretired to join Mike Vrabel in Tennessee.
"When they told us we had 11 sacks, we just went out there and we were like, 'We've got to get Wink. We've got to put the Gatorade on him,'" Ravens inside linebacker Patrick Onwuasor said, via The Athletic. "We had to get him really good."