After working their way out of the dog house with their fans in Week 2, the Tennessee Titans find themselves right back in it after an embarrassing Week 3 loss against the Cleveland Browns.
Nothing went right for the Titans on Sunday.
Buy Titans TicketsThe offense couldn’t get anything going thanks to terrible offensive line play, both in pass protection and run-blocking, with the former being mostly about left tackle Andre Dillard’s ineptitude.
On defense, the pass-rush couldn’t finish several opportunities at sacks and the secondary was absolutely exposed as a result. Adding to that, penalties bailed the Browns out on multiple occasions.
Admittedly, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for winners coming out of this game after such a bad performance, but there is no shortage of losers.
Loser: The offensive line
While the vast majority of the pass protection woes can be blamed on Dillard, the rest of the offensive line certainly wasn’t perfect in this game, especially in run-blocking, where Tennessee gained a measly 26 yards at 1.7 yards per tote.
Loser: LT Andre Dillard
Dillard wasn’t good in the first two games of the season, but he was even worse in Week 3. The Titans’ left tackle was getting torched by Browns star pass-rusher Myles Garrett all game long, which played a huge role in the Titans’ inept showing through the air.
Granted, it’s hard to stop Garrett no matter who he’s lining up against and the Titans didn’t give Dillard nearly enough help, but it’s also fair to expect better from Tennessee’s left tackle, who was a turnstile in Week 3.
Adding insult to injury, Garrett then imparted pointers on Dillard after the game, telling him how he could’ve done better.
Loser: The secondary
With the pass-rush not at its best, the Titans’ secondary wasn’t able to provide any resistance against the Browns’ passing attack. The result was Deshaun Watson having his best game since joining Cleveland after routinely struggling over his first eight contests with the team.
On top of allowing Watson to complete 27-of-33 passes for 289 yards, the secondary also committed unforgiveable penalties to bail the Browns out of tough spots, with Kristian Fulton and Sean Murphy-Bunting headlining that.
As our Shaun Calderon wrote in a separate article, this defense will never reach its full potential if the secondary continues to play the way it has over the first three games.
Loser: CB Kristian Fulton
After Watson inexplicably threw a backwards pass that led to a fumble and lost 16 yards in the second quarter, Fulton was flagged for a defensive pass interference to bail the Browns out of a second-and-26, ultimately leading to a touchdown drive. He later committed a defensive holding on a second-and-11 in the fourth quarter on another Browns touchdown drive.
When he wasn’t committing penalties, Fulton was getting beaten in coverage by Amari Cooper, who should have had two touchdowns but was ruled out of bounds in the second quarter on a terrible call by the officials.
Cooper got his touchdown catch later in the game, though, when Fulton and Amani Hooker had a breakdown, which allowed the Browns receiver to run free and connect with Watson for a 43-yard score. Fulton was left covering nobody on the play.
The LSU product has looked like anything but a No. 1 cornerback over the first three weeks, which is bad news for him in a contract year, and even worse news for the Titans.
Loser: OC Tim Kelly
Kelly’s play-calling was OK over the first two games, but there were several issues in Week 3.
Of course, Kelly can’t block for Ryan Tannehill, but he can draw up more plays to get the ball out of his quarterback’s hands quicker. Adding to that, going with run, run, pass at any point in a game the Titans couldn’t get anything going on the ground is simply inexcusable.
Speaking of the run game: Kelly’s play-calling was predictable on early downs, which only made things worse.
Kelly’s biggest gaffe was not getting Dillard more help throughout the game. It was plainly obvious early on the left tackle was going to have issues with Garrett, yet the offensive coordinator left him on an island with the superstar pass-rusher far too often.
Loser: WR Treylon Burks
Burks actually made something happen for the Titans’ inept offense once again this week by drawing a pass interference that finally got Tennessee’s down the field in the second quarter before the drive stalled.
Other than that, there weren’t any positives to speak of for his one-catch, five-yard game.
On a day when the Titans couldn’t get anything going, the last thing the offense could afford were drops. Burks had two of them, with at least one coming on a third down.
Drops continue to be an issue for the young receiver, who must clean that up moving forward.
In between: The defensive front
The Titans’ front managed to notch three sacks, but it should’ve had many more. Unfortunately, Tennessee’s group upfront whiffed on several opportunities, some of which would’ve thwarted scoring drives.
Adding to that, two of the sacks didn’t come from the usual suspects (Azeez Al-Shaair and Roger McCreary had one apiece) and Jeffery Simmons, Arden Key and Harold Landry were all blanked. Denico Autry accounted for the third.
Where Tennessee’s front shined once again was against the run. The Browns’ No. 4 rushing attack was held to just 78 yards and 2.5 yards per carry.
It’s hard to ever get mad at this group considering how many good things it does more often than not, but the pass-rush has to do a better job of getting more consistent pressure and finishing sacks because the secondary simply isn’t good enough to stop opposing passing attacks on its own without that help.
Winner: K Nick Folk
The Titans’ offense was so bad, it couldn’t even get into field goal range. The only time Tennessee did was off a turnover. Folk knocked it through from 44 yards out, keeping him perfect (8-for-8) on the year.
Like I said, we had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get some winners in here.
Winner: P Ryan Stonehouse
In a game in which the field position battle figured to be vital before the Browns ran away with the game, Stonehouse did his job. He averaged 53.4 yards per kick, had a long of 74, and four of his seven punts landed inside the 20.
More Week 3 coverage
