Titans fail on both sides of the ball in blowout loss to Brown
CLEVELAND — The Tennessee Titans (1-2) were completely outmatched against the Cleveland Browns (2-1) on Sunday. Cleveland wiped the floor with the visiting Titans by a score of 27-3. It hardly felt that close. Ass-kickings do happen in the NFL, but this was at every level. Tennessee's lone scoring drive, a 44-yard field goal by […]
CLEVELAND — The Tennessee Titans (1-2) were completely outmatched against the Cleveland Browns (2-1) on Sunday. Cleveland wiped the floor with the visiting Titans by a score of 27-3.
It hardly felt that close.
Ass-kickings do happen in the NFL, but this was at every level. Tennessee's lone scoring drive, a 44-yard field goal by kicker Nick Folk, actually lost nine yards in three plays. The Titans have failed to score a touchdown in two of their three games thus far in 2023.
"It's hard," said quarterback Ryan Tannehill after being sacked five times on Sunday. "It's hard to get anything going. They did a good job getting pressure in the pocket pretty much all day."
The Browns came in to Week 3 with two sacks on the season.
They left with the additional five quarterback takedowns and a boatload of pressures to batter a passer who has now been sacked 13 times already on the year. Edge rusher Myles Garrett has made plenty of offensive linemen look foolish in his career, but his performance against Titans left tackle Andre Dillard was a master class.
Garrett's stat line against Tennessee reads like something out of a Madden game played on beginner level.
The former first-overall pick accounted for 3.5 of the five Browns sacks for 22 yards lost, five tackles, five quarterback hurries, three tackles for loss and a forced fumble that the Titans recovered. He was not matched up exclusively on Dillard, but did attack solely from the left side. Browns defensive coordinator, and former Tennessee assistant, Jim Schwartz, deployed Garrett both on the edge and sent him from the interior to take advantage of favorable match-ups.
Garrett was even kind enough to offer Dillard some constructive criticism after the game.
"I think I just need to be better with my hands, and my sets and all that stuff," Dillard said. "I talked to (Garrett) after the game, and he told me his inputs. I'm just trying to get better. He told me what he saw, what he liked about my game and what I could have done differently."
Respectfully, what wouldn't Garrett like about Dillard's game.
Dillard is earnest in his efforts to improve. No one disputes this. The Titans desperately need improvement across the board if they are to stay competitive within their division. Dillard is an easy target, but the reality is that everyone but the kicker needs to be better.
33 of their 45 plays went for two yards or less. Tennessee had nearly as much penalty yardage (8 for 80) as they were able to manage offensively (94 net). This goes beyond coach Mike Vrabel's mantra of needing to "play better and coach better."
These are developing trends that absolutely must be corrected.
Titans offense faces tough test in former assistant Jim Schwartz
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans (1-1) are hoping to build on a strong offensive performance in Week 2. Coordinator Tim Kelly will look to win a chess match with a former coworker when Tennessee plays the Browns (1-1) in Cleveland this weekend. Few people know the Titans organization as well as former assistant Jim Schwartz. […]
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
