Titans' Offensive Grinds to Halt in Ugly 27-3 Loss to Browns

Tennessee's trip to Cleveland was a complete bust. The Titans' offense gained only 94 yards all day and the Browns crushed them 27-3. It's their fifth straight road loss dating back to last November. "We have to be better,'' Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill said.

Tom Brew | Sep 24, 2023

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Tennessee Titans spent all week devising an attack that would work against Cleveland's top-ranked defense, and they had a game plan they thought would work well.

They were wrong.

Very, very wrong.

The Titans lost 27-3 at Cleveland Browns Stadium, and were embarrassingly bad in the process. The offense generated a grand total of 94 yards, and the offensive line was pathetic, allowing five sacks.

Even their three points were a complete gift. After forcing a fumble while trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter, the Titans took over at the Browns' 17-yard line — and went backwards on three straight plays. Nick Folk kicked a 44-yard field goal, and the Titans would never score again.

It was that bad.

"You play like that in this league or you coach like that in this league and you get your ass beat. Plain and simple,'' Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "We will be back. We will go back to work. I know its disappointing, but it's what happens when you play and you coach like that.''

The Titans ran the ball 15 times and only gained 26 yards. They had minus-2 total yards rushing in the first half. And quarterback Ryan Tannehill was just 13-for-25 passing for 104 yards. He was sacked five times, and pressured on several other throws as well.

Nothing — literally nothing — worked at all.

"It's hard. It's hard to get anything going. They did a good job of getting pressure in the pocket pretty much all day,'' Tannehill said of the Browns defense, which is rock solid on all three levels. "We had a game plan coming in and we tried to help where we could, but at the end of the day, they did a good job of executing their game plan and get to the pocket.

"It's frustrating, obviously. I haven't been a part of a whole lot of games here that ended like that. It's not the way we want to go out and play, on either side of the ball, and we have to be better.''

The Titans are now 1-2 on the season, and have lost five straight road games dating back to last November. They didn't score a touchdown on Sunday — never even threatened, really — is this is their second road loss this season where they've failed to score a touchdown.

They've scored a total of 18 points in their two road losses, and Folk has accounted for all the points.

Even though they weren't doing much, the Titans still had a chance to get back in the game right before halftime. They were trailing 13-3, but drove down the field as the clock was ticking down. They were at the Browns' 11, and called their third timeout after their second-down play. On third down, though, Tannehill went back to pass, with the plan to get the ball quickly into the end zone. Instead, he was quickly sacked by Myles Garrett — he had 3.5 sacks on the day — and the clock ran out.

The Titans, who were getting the ball to start the third quarter, too, wasted a golden opportunity for at least three points — and maybe a quick double-up.

"We were in a situation where the ball had to be in the end zone or out of bounds,'' Tannehill said. "It wasn't a long, developing play that we had called, but he got there really fast.''

The offensive line issues are a real problem with this team. It stinks being 1-2, but the Titans live in the AFC South, so it's not the end of the world. The Jacksonville Jaguars, the heavy favorite to win the division, are also 1-2.

"We're going to do our best to keep working, keep improving and find a way to make it work,'' Tannehill said of the protection issues. "That's all you can do at this point, is keep working, keep finding ways where we can protect and get the ball off downfield.''

The Titans had 24 plays that went for zero or negative yards, 12 Tannehill incompletions, five sacks and seven running plays that didn't get back to the line of scrimmage. They had seven plays that only gained one yard, and two more that only gained two.

They were playing behind the chains all day, and that's not a recipe for success against a Cleveland defense that is only allowing an average of 164.3 yards per game during the first three weeks of the season. The Browns are now 2-1.

"It's brutal when you put yourself in third-and-long situations, especially with a front like that,'' Tannehill said. "It makes it tough. You can say that every week, but going into the game we knew we needed to be in third-and-short situations. They're able to tee off in those situations, and you're in a tough spot as an offense.''

Left tackle Andre Dillard struggled all day with Garrett, but he wasn't alone. The pressure came from everywhere. Alex Wright (1.0) and Ogro Okoronkwo (0.5) also had sacks and spent a lot of time in the backfield.

This was a game that was eerily similar to many of the 2022 losses, where the Tennessee offensive line simply couldn't compete. It's the biggest reason why they went 7-10 and lost their last seven games.

They rebuilt the line in the offseason, bringing in Dillard, Daniel Brunskill and Chris Hubbard as free agents. They drafted Peter Skoronski in the first round, but he's missed the last two weeks after needing an appendectomy.

Brunskill was asked if all the new pieces were still trying to get comfortable with each other. He quickly dismissed the thought, refusing to make excuses for their poor play.

"It's Week 3. There are no more excuses,'' Brunskill said. "Week 1, you can maybe say that on the road, but by Week 3 we need to be better. We need to come together and get all on the same page. I know we can play better than this.

"We were behind the chains all the time. We were in third-and-10 or worse all day, and when you do that, they were going to just be licking their chops. You've got to give them credit, because they're good and they play really hard. We've just got to be better as a group.''

The Titans defense didn't play well, either. They gave up 289 passing yards to Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had a big day. He was 27-for-33 passing with two scores. Tennessee has now given up 899 yards passing in three weeks.

The Titans also had eight penalties for 80 yards, which isn't good when you only gain 94.

"Over the course of the game, it just got away from us,'' Titans safety Amani Hooker said. "Credit to Watson. He made plays, a few guys got loose. He was able to break tackles and dump it off, and those guys made plays.

"We've just got to get back to the basics. We're all one and we're going to stick together, and we're not going to be bothered by the ups and downs. We'll fix what needs fixing and be ready to go next week.''

The Titans are back at home on Sunday, taking on the Cincinnati Bengals at Nissan Stadium. The Bengals are 0-2 and play the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

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