The slow starts continued for the Tennessee Titans in Cleveland. The team took the Browns into halftime with a 6-3 lead after two Ryan Succop field goals. Thankfully for Mike Mularkey’s squad, the Browns found ways to repeatedly hand the Titans opportunities to score.
But, this disturbing trend of opponents reversing weaknesses against the Titans continued as well. The Browns offense, which has been largely stagnant, was able to move the ball effectively. Plus, the defense, which has played poorly, looked like a great unit against the Titans.
Rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer was so bad this season that the Browns benched him last week for Kevin Hogan. Yet, he distributed the ball well to a depleted receiving corps in the first half. If not for sailing a ball into the hands of Kevin Byard, he could’ve gone into halftime putting points on the board.
The Browns defense has been terrible in the red zone. But, they bowed up against the Titans in the first half. Gregg Williams put together a great game plan to stifle the Titans run game, and at times, Browns defenders absolutely flooded the line of scrimmage. But, the Browns committed several penalties that helped the Titans offense sustain a long drive late in the 2nd quarter that led to the go-ahead field goal.
Nevertheless, let’s make no bones about it. Against a higher quality opponent, the Titans would’ve been down 14-6 at least at the half.
The second half started with a Browns drive the ended abruptly when Byard snatched his second interception out of the air. But, the Titans failed to capitalize yet again in the red zone. This time, Mularkey elected to go for it on 4th down from the one-yard line. But, this suddenly vaunted Browns defense kept Derrick Henry out of the end zone.
After his second interception, Kizer was pulled from the game in favor of Cody Kessler. Kessler, who I thought deserved a shot to start 2017, played well. He drove the Browns downfield to kick a game-tying field goal, and clearly looks like the better option at quarterback.
The problem here is that the absolute worst team in the NFL tried to GIFT the Titans this game repeatedly, and they failed to take advantage. The fourth quarter was like watching two bad football teams try to give their opponents the W. “Here you take it.” “No, you take it!” Succop came through with another field goal in overtime, but I definitely would’ve found it fitting had this game ended in a tie.
Credit to the Browns – they stuffed the run. It effectively forced the Titans to play a game they never appeared comfortable playing. But, the bottom line here is that the Titans have a ton of issues to work out if they want to actually become the offense they set out to be. The defense has quietly held opponents to 12.3 points per game when you factor in Indianapolis scored a touchdown on defense.
Moving forward, the Titans have to figure out how to run the ball now that everyone in the league knows what ‘exotic smashmouth’ is.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
Buy our shirt. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube. Shop our store on Redbubble.
