The Browns don’t need a reminder of what happened the last time Tennessee came around, but they have one anyway.
Cleveland hosts the Titans on Sunday with a 4-2 record and a chance to keep a surprising season rolling. Tennessee arrives at 1-5, and when these teams last met, the Titans walked out with a 31-29 win even though they also had just one victory at the time. The Browns weren’t in much better shape then, sitting at three wins.
That meeting is most closely tied to Shedeur Sanders’ best outing as a young quarterback. He threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns, added 29 rushing yards and another score, then was inexplicably pulled before a potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt.
But Sanders having to throw that much was a symptom of a bigger problem: Cleveland’s defense never took control.
The Browns were one of the league’s best defensive groups last season, allowing 283.6 yards per game, fourth in the NFL, and 22.3 points per game, 14th in the league. None of that showed up against Tennessee.
The Titans still managed 292 yards and 31 points, and Cleveland didn’t help itself with two turnovers. The ugliest part was on the ground, where the Browns surrendered 184 rushing yards at 5.3 yards per carry.
That kind of effort is a quick way to turn a winnable game into a mess.
The run defense has another test in front of it, and Cleveland needs to handle it better this time. The Browns are giving up 112.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks 17th, and 4.4 yards per carry, which ranks 22nd. That’s respectable, but not good enough for a defense that is supposed to be a strength.
There is at least some help coming. Mason Graham has been cleared to return, which should give Cleveland a boost up front.
Tennessee’s rushing attack, meanwhile, has not been much of a threat. The Titans average only 82.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks 28th, and 3.8 yards per carry, which ranks 22nd.
So the path for Cleveland is pretty clear: show up, stop the run, and avoid the kind of letdown that turned last year’s matchup into a frustrating loss. If the Browns do that, they should leave Sunday with their fifth win.
In Other News...
Browns Still Have A QB Crunch They Need To Solve Fast
The Browns are running up against another quarterback decision, and this one is tied to Dillon Gabriels 21-day practice window coming to an end. Cleveland has a few paths it can take from here, including activating him to the 53-man roster, sending him back to injured reserve, or exploring a trade or release, though the most likely outcome appears to be far less dramatic than the list of possibilities suggests.
For now, the team is operating with three quarterbacks on the active roster and reportedly would like to keep all four around if it can, including Gabriel and Taylen Green. There is no sense of a trade market being built, unless an offer comes along that is too strong to pass up, while Shedeur Sanders is expected to stay in the backup role as Cleveland tries to sort out the numbers without creating a bigger problem at the position. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Keep Winning Ugly And Thats Becoming A Real Debate
The Browns are finding a way to keep stacking wins even when the performance is anything but clean, and Sundays 27-24 escape in Nashville fit that pattern perfectly. Cleveland moved to 5-2 after Deshaun Watson shook off an early interception and helped steer a late, efficient push that ended with Andre Szmyt drilling the game-winning field goal as time expired.
Quinshon Judkins kept the offense on schedule with 96 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while KC Concepcion turned in his first 100-yard receiving game to give the Browns another needed spark. The result keeps Cleveland near the top of the conversation, but the bigger question is whether these narrow, survival-mode wins say more about grit or about a team that still has plenty to clean up. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Rookie WR Just Flashed Bigger Potential Than Fans Expected
KC Concepcions latest outing gave the Browns another glimpse of why they were intrigued by his upside in the first place. Against the Tennessee Titans, the rookie wide receiver piled up 129 receiving yards, a total that landed him eighth in franchise history for receiving yards by a rookie wideout in a single game and put him in some notable company for a first-year player in Cleveland.
Derrick Alexander still owns the Browns rookie benchmark at 171 yards, a mark he set back in 1994, so there is still a long way to go before Concepcion starts threatening that place in the record book. Even so, his season line of 30 catches for 315 yards suggests this was more than a one-game spike, and it gives the Browns another reason to keep watching how quickly his role can grow from here. [Read more 🡒]