NASHVILLE — Another loss and another week of growing pains for the Tennessee Titans and rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger.

Mettenberger started off well enough against the Baltimore Ravens, shredding them by hitting on 8 of his first 11 throws for 98 yards and a touchdown.

But after the first quarter, the Ravens adjusted, ditching their man-to-man coverage by dropping into a soft zone, and the rookie not only had trouble adjusting, but also held on to the football too long hoping something would develop in the routes, and was sacked five times.

He finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards with one TD and one interception.

“They made an adjustment and started rolling they’re coverage, the safeties were rolling and they played zone coverage, which we were not expecting. But we’ve got to be ready for anything,” Mettenberger said.

Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt believes that the sixth-round rookie will get more comfortable as he plays more and said there are good things to continue to build upon in Mettenberger’s second start.

“I think that’s something that he’ll get better at as he gets more comfortable with the position. He did a nice job in a lot of things yesterday. I thought early in the game he really made some good throws,” Whisenhunt said. “I think a little bit that was underrated was how he handled that environment, especially early, to have the ball for a 15-play drive and a nine-play drive, make some throws on third down and handled the pressures the way he did, I felt there’s a lot of positive in that.”

But there is also much work to be done. Part of the issue was with the field position circumstances, with a number of drives inside their own 15 yard line. That led to Whisenhunt being much more conservative on the play calls.

“As the game progressed, as they had a lead and they were playing a little bit more seven-man coverages driving, those windows get a lot harder, especially with the field position,” Whisenhunt said. “That really hurt us, being bottled up down there inside the 10 a number of times. You have a tendency to be a little bit more careful with your throws. That’ll lead you to holding onto it. What we’ve got to do a better job of with him going forward is getting to the check down quicker, getting the ball out of his hand a little bit quicker.”

No matter how much progress Mettenberger makes this season, it will likely be a tough road for awhile. Mettenberger is the fourth rookie quarterback to become his team’s starting quarterback this season and teams with a rookie QB under center are a combined 4-19. If not for Teddy Bridgewater, who is somehow 3-2 for the Vikings, those numbers would be much worse — as in 1-17.