This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns (4-2) take on the Tennessee Titans (1-5). Below, we analyze a few advantages, disadvantages, or general thoughts about the two teams before getting to our predictions for the game.
Browns’ Defense is Cooking…
…except for the start of football games. In four of their six games, including their last three games, this has been the result of the opposing team’s opening drive:
Week 1, Jaguars: 8 plays, 59 yards (Touchdown)
Week 4, Steelers: 17 plays, 73 yards (Touchdown)
Week 5, Jets: 8 plays, 90 yards (Touchdown)
Week 6, Ravens: 11 plays, 66 yards (Touchdown)
In that first game, the defense was just bad the whole first half. In the other three games, they did a pretty solid-to-dominant job the rest of the way. I’ve harped a bunch of times this season on how much I value the adjustments that Mike Rutenburg has this defense making in-game, which is something I thought I never saw from Jim Schwartz. We’re also seeing where a defensive front is not reliant on one guy (Myles Garrett) to save the day. Players are collectively stepping up and rallying together, and you’re also seeing great individual efforts out of the likes of Denzel Ward, Carson Schewesinger, and Maliek Collins. This week, the Browns get Mason Graham back, who looked like a beast to begin his second year before hurting his knee.
With the defense playing so well, it’s also encouraging this week that they are facing the 32nd-ranked offense in the NFL. Cam Ward hasn’t been able to muster much in the passing game. Also last year, RB Tony Pollard had his best game of the season against Cleveland, going off for 161 yards on 25 carries with 2 touchdowns. Hopefully, that element can be contained, especially with help returning at defensive tackle.
But the Offense Needs to do More
The fourth quarter, game-winning drives have happened four times this season, which is great on one hand. It almost happened a fifth time (the loss to the Jets). On the other hand, we’re starting to reach a bit of a tipping point on needing to see more productivity and points on the board in the rest of the game. Over those first few games of the season, the feeling was, ‘Alright, we’re seeing some encouraging things, maybe as the offense continues to build a rhythm, we’ll see better results.’ Instead, things have gotten pretty stagnant from an overall game perspective.
- Cleveland has scored 12 and 13 points in their last two games, fortunate to have gone 1-1 during that stretch. Over the last three weeks, Cleveland is the only team to have a victory on the board after scoring that few of points. The last team that won with that low of a point total was the Giants back in Week 3, when they won 12-7 over…the Titans. In other words, Cleveland was lucky to scoot by with a victory in that sense last week, and if their offense is not better, even against the Titans, you’re going to have teams beating you.
- What can get better? Last week, one of the adjustments seems to have been getting Jerry Jeudy more involved in the game again. The running game also showed some progress, but ironically enough, many fans feel that was becauseQuinshon Judkins was out, and Jaleel McLaughlin was back. I’m not trying to be a Judkins hater by any means — like I’ve said multiple times, I thought he looked very sharp last year, and this year, I think he looks as pedestrian as you can get. Dylan Sampson might also return this week.
- Something is off that KC Concepcion is six games in, and has 186 yards receiving (average of 31 yards receiving per game). I go back to what I saw from him in training camp, and I know that was just training camp, but my takeaway multiple times was, ‘This guy is something special.’ And it’s also not like I say that about every receiver that comes through the team because I’m a homer. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that about a receiver in camp. And during the regular season, I think he’s looked the part still — it’s just, tying in with the rest of the offense, the production isn’t there yet.
- Harold Fannin, also, has 2 catches for 13 yards in the last two games. The Titans have defended tight ends fairly well this year, so I don’t know if there’s a breakout to be expected this week, but the young tight end needs to get involved more.
- Tennessee picked up their first win of the season last week, but their offense didn’t find themselves. They were shut out 13-0 at the half, then forced a fumble, got an interception (which both led to field goals), and then blocked a punt for a touchdown, to generate points. That should be a talking point for the Browns this week, but if they protect the ball and are diligent about special teams assignments like they’ve been, Tennessee’s offense shouldn’t beat them.
- According to FanDuel, the Browns are 1.5 point favorites against the Titans. The over/under is 37.5.
Quick Hitters
Offensive coordinator Travis Switzer was asked about getting his top two running backs returning this week:
Yeah, it’s huge. I mean, it’s obviously our top two backs. So, yeah, those two are a big part of what we do on offense, run and pass. And they’re also, we talked about this last week too, a little bit of a one-two punch, if you will, whatever you want to call it. They have different skill sets that we can utilize for both of them. So, yeah, having those guys back is going to be huge.
Defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg talked about Emmanuel McNeil-Warren getting a lot of action last week after Grant Delpit exited early:
I mean, he did a great job in the game. Was excellent with his communication, was excellent with his assignments, and then you saw his playmaking ability come to life. But that goes back to him continuing to build his confidence. You saw it earlier in the year on special teams, playing really, really well on special teams, getting more opportunities on defense, playing really well in practice, and him transferring that to the game. And he’s going to continue going this way because of, number one, just who he is. He wants to be coached, he wants the information, he wants to be challenged, he wants to be told when it’s good, when it’s bad. And then you can see his play continuing to rise because of who he is.
Special teams coordinator Bryon Storer was asked about Corey Bojorquez not having his best game last week:
“Yeah, I mean, we didn’t think it was, he could have…He had more opportunities that he could have taken advantage of. It’s the minus, the two minus-45 kicks, where you’re like, we’ve got to have those balls inside the 20-yard line. And that’s what I told him after the game, looking at it, it’s like, ‘we’ve got to get the ball inside the 20 on those’, because if you get the ball inside the 20 on those, you’ve got four inside the 20 for the game. And you only gave up, I think it was like 7.5 yards per return, and so if you handled those punts better, you’re looking at the game completely differently. But we talked about it, and really just trying to keep the ball from going out of bounds so early, because you leave it up to the official to mark wherever he thinks it goes out. Now, I think there is some technology to it now that we learned, but he’s got to do a better job of keeping it in play. And we’ve proven now with Malachi (Corley) that we can down the punt inside the 10-yard line. So, I think we learned from that and we’ll see improvement from us.”
Here are predictions from multiple staff members at DBN:
Predictions
Chris Pokorny: “Many are predicting this to be a close game, with Cleveland squeaking out a win. I can’t blame them, considering the Browns’ four victories have been by a combined 13 points. But with the momentum the Browns continue to build, I feel like their defense is rocking with confidence this week, and the offense finds a slight groove to make this a double digit win.” Browns 27, Titans 10
Jared Mueller: “A road game with a bit of weird attached to it with the Jordan Elliott release from the Titans and his history with the Browns.
This seems similar to the game versus the Jets; the Browns seem to stay close to their opponent for a variety of reasons, and can struggle to put things away. Tennessee is coming off their first victory and a young team can get on a roll quickly. If Quincy Williams’ neck injury leads to him missing the game, Cleveland’s defense all of a sudden has a big, important question mark.
As of now, the weather looks like it will be perfect in Nashville, with a high of 77 degrees. That will help the Browns offense get going a bit.” Browns 24, Titans 20
Curtiss Brown: “The last time these two teams played, Cleveland couldn’t stop the run for whatever reason. The Titans aren’t an abject disaster but its hard to say this team has looked better than last year. A case can be made they look worse. However, the team was able to get a win against the Indianapolis Colts so they aren’t completely bad.
As for the Browns, its hard to say that they are a good football team. They aren’t bad but they aren’t necessarily good. Mediocre at best is fine. The Titans will give this team fits (mainly on defense) but the Browns defense has to be prepared for quarterback Cam Ward. If the offense can find some consistency and play a complete game that would be nice. Could be a close game but Cleveland barely wins. I could be wrong though.” Browns 23, Titans 20
Barry Shuck: “After the schedule came out, I looked at the Browns opponents. They are playing that last place schedule, which means, except for the Cardinals and Dolphins, they play every division cellar dweller from last year. I looked at what Todd Monken had done with virtually every offensive unit he has been charged of. Every single team’s offense improved tremendously. So, I predicted Cleveland could take the bad teams, split within the division, then come out with a 12-5-0 record. However, one of those wins was supposed to the Jets. And after a 2-4-0 start, the Jets remain a bad team. This brings up the Titans, who just might be the worst team in the league. Which, the Browns should win, right? My memory still is on how Cleveland gave up their soul against New York, and floundered. A 38-14 win for the Browns? Or a 17-13 heartbreaker to a horrible club instead? Which offense shows up?” Browns 24, Titans 24
Who do you think will win, Browns fans? Let us know in the comments section below.