Tennessee Titans vs. Cleveland Browns: Formula For Success
The Tennessee Titans will face the the visiting Cleveland Browns today, with both teams looking to improve their season.
The visiting Browns will hope to get a win on the road (a rare occurrence), and the Tennessee Titans will be looking to employ a formula, any formula, that might lead to success (another rare occurrence). I’ll see if I can share a formula for both teams that could help.
If you’ve not been following the Browns, you should know that this year’s Cleveland team is much improved over the usual Browns team we’ve grown accustomed to. The Titans? High hopes, and big disappointment.
Brown’s Formula In a Nutshell
Not only is Brown’s quarterback Brian Hoyer playing well (he is, after-all, much better than Johnny Manziel), but the Browns have gotten good production out of players such as Ben Tate, Terrance West, and Isaiah Crowell, and are running a new system – a zone-read approach that has worked much better for them.
Brian Hoyer has protected the ball well, not thrown a single interception this season, and is helping the Browns score almost 25 points per game on average. He’s clearly back to form, and if he can muster that same form against the Titans, the Browns could make it a nasty day at LP Field.
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Browns running back Ben Tate has been out for a couple of games with injury, but is expected to be back for this game. The Browns need to get Tate going, and establish a good ground game against the Titans. Tennessee has a good core of defenders against the pass, and as good as Hoyer has been, the Browns will do well to exploit some defensive weakness against the run for the Titans.
Defensively,the Cleveland Browns ought to bring consistent pressure against Jake Locker in this game if they hope to get the win. Locker hasn’t always performed well under pressure, and the Titan’s O-Line has had some issues adequately protecting Jake.
The problem with that scenario, which could be good news for the Titans, is that the Browns don’t blitz much, and typically don’t rely heavily upon quarterback pressure to upset the balance of opposing teams. They prefer good man coverage underneath and deep, and a heads-up defense against opponents establishing a running game, something which the Titans have yet to fully develop.
The Brown’s formula for success then, other than the obvious need for Hoyer to continue to play well, will be to blitz more than usual, pressure the Titan’s shaky O-Line, and force Jake Locker out of any comfort zone, while working to stop any developing Titan ground game.
Titan’s Formula In a Nutshell
For the Tennessee Titans, Jake Locker was back at practice on Wednesday after missing time with a recent wrist injury, and as poorly as Locker has played at times, it will be a breath of fresh air considering the poor play of fill-ins Charlie Whitehurst and Zach Mettenberger.
The Titans have worked hard trying to morph Jake Locker into the prototypical pocket quarterback, but that experiment has failed miserably so far. I’m sure they will continue that experiment today, but the Titans will need to work their own running game to exploit an obvious weakness in the Browns defense.
The Titans are averaging almost 120 yards on the ground per game, and almost 5 yards per running back carry, but they have not utilized the ground game nearly enough since the game against Kansas City. The running back by committee approach using Shonn Greene, Bishop Sankey, and Dexter McCluster was successful in that game, but has been a touch weak since.
Greene could certainly have performed better, and although Sankey had some issues pre-season, I think the formula for success for the Titans today will be to get Bishop Sankey more involved in establishing a significant running game. This will help to free up Locker and give him more time in passing situations, perhaps better protect him, and allow Jake to work more effectively in the pocket.
Final Truth
The Titans have struggled to get a good ground game going, struggled to find a way to make Jake Locker successful, and frankly have struggled in pretty much every other area as well. If they can run the ball effectively today to set up passing situations for Locker, and mix up those passes to different targets, the Titans could upset the Browns.
In short, the Titans don’t need to do a lot differently, they just need to execute much better.
If the Browns can effectively pressure Locker, shut down the Titan run game, and Hoyer continue to perform like he has been, the Browns win this one. In fact, that’s my prediction – Browns win, but not by much.
My prediction? Browns 28 – Titans 20.
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