Week 5 - 2014 - Titans

Well that was an interesting game.  The Browns won yesterday, 29-28 over the Titans.  Just your average 25 point comeback on the road, the largest deficit ever made up on the road in NFL history, and the largest comeback in Browns history.  Once again they fell behind in the first half, only to have Brian Hoyer lead them to victory.  This Brian Hoyer guy is moving rapidly from "game manager" to "captain comeback" and "a winner" if you're keeping score on quarterback cliches.  How they ever got down 28-3 to the Titans is another story, but the fact is they won, and as we all know it's a results based business.  The Browns have evened up their record at 2-2, with all four games decided by a field goal or less, and all 4 games decided in the final 2 minutes.  The Kardiac Kids are back.

Let's start with the Titans, who are basically the Ravens without the success.  They were owned by a scumbag named Bud Adams who moved them from Houston where they were the Oilers.  Adams basically held Houston hostage for 10 years before moving the team, much like Art Modell did here.  Adams employed huge ahole Jeff Fisher for 16 (!) years.  Jeff Fisher is the WORST.  They also decided it was a good idea to honor Rob Bironas, their former kicker, before the game and with a decal on their helmets.  What happened to Rob Bironas you ask?  Well a few weeks ago he got ridiculously drunk, went driving, nearly ran two cars off the road (explicitly threatening to kill one carload of people) before smashing his own vehicle into a tree, killing himself.  (For the record it's obviously a horrible tragedy that Bironas died but I'm not sure the manner he did is something that you should celebrate.)  They also drafted noted scumbag Taylor Lewan, Michigan Man.  Your Tenneessee Titans everyone.

Going into the game with the Browns, the Titans were 1-3.  They had lost 3 straight games, getting outscored 100-34 in the process.  They hadn't scored a point in the first quarter all season.  They were led on offense by Jake Locker, who should have been a welcomed sight to the Browns after facing Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, and Joe Flacco, all Super Bowl champion quarterbacks.  Basically, the Titans stink, and the Browns were coming off a bye to shore up their defensive problems.  It should be an easy win, right?  But part of the problem is that teams also look at the Browns as easy wins.  That's part of the reputation that this Browns team needs to shake.  And the Titans came out like they were the better team, and they expected to win.  And the Browns came out and looked like the team that played that disgusting first half against the Steelers.  They couldn't tackle.  They couldn't get off blocks.  They couldn't get off the field on third down against a team that was the worst in the league at converting them.  They certainly couldn't cover anyone.  They were rushing six and getting no pressure.  They fell behind 28-3, it was awful.  The best thing that happened to the Browns in the first 25 minutes or so was that Jake Locker hit his thumb on Buster Skrine's helmet and had to leave the game.  That sent Charlie Whitehurst into the game, one of Nashville's most beautiful people.  And while that didn't help immediately with Whitehurst torching Buster Skine, once Charlie Whitehurst realized that he's Charlie Whitehurst, the Browns were able to start chipping away.

It was not a pleasant first half though.  Mike Pettine, I kind of think your team should have been a little more prepared, a little more ready to play.  Pettine is a defensive guy, that's his background.  But man his defense has looked bad at times.  It seems clear that what he wants to do right now on defense, isolating corners in one on one coverage and pressuring the quarterback, he cannot.  It hasn't worked.  Haden, Skrine, and Gilbert have all been torched at times.  It may be time to pare it back a little.  I still wonder what is going on with the defensive play calling, if it's O'Neil or if it's Pettine.  Whatever is going on, it hasn't looked good, especially early in games.  This is a very poor tackling team also.  The Browns were able to score a touchdown before the half and went into the locker room down 28-10. 

And much like the Pittsburgh game, they came out of the locker room and stuck with the plan.  I love Kyle Shanahan.  I think there were times that he could have run the ball even more.  On both possessions that the Browns went for it on fourth down and were stopped in the second half I thought they could have kept pounding with the run game, but it's easy to second guess.  But he never abandoned the run game.  They never panicked.  They went more uptempo, and it worked (shocking), and they were able to move the ball in the second half.  The balance on offense is outstanding, for the year they've had 138 pass plays and 127 runs.  Ben Tate looked great.  Travis Benjamin went from goat to hero with two great touchdown catches.  Amazing how no one talks about the receivers anymore.  Hawkins, Gabriel, Austin and Benjamin all made big plays in the second half.  And Hoyer is becoming captain clutch.

There were other factors that worked into this comeback, most notably that the Titans stink and make stupid plays and coaching decisions.  Penalties by the Titans wiped out two HUGE Browns turnovers.  One was on a Benjamin muffed punt (probably need to leave him off of punt returns), and one was on an interception.  So those were huge plays in the game that went the Browns way (that even feels weird to type).  And Ken Whisenhunt made some absolutely idiotic coaching decisions, from throwing the ball with the lead 3 straight plays when they needed to run the clock out to the ill-fated quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 that gave the ball back to the Browns in Titan territory.  He exasperated the problem by challenging the play and burning a timeout.  The Titans are a bad team.  The Browns outgained the Titans in yardage in the second half 278 to 126, and scored the last 26 points of the game.  However, the Browns hadn't won a road game since last year against Minnesota, losing their previous 7, so this was a big win regardless of the opponent.  And credit has to go to Mike Pettine for challenging the spot on that key 3rd down reception by Walker.  Pettine won the challenge and that proved to be a gamechanger.  And the special teams shockingly didn't blow it, and Tank Carder made a huge play, which just goes to show what a weird weird game this was.  Carder's blocked punt was the first by the Browns since November 2003.

The Browns are back to .500, 2-2, with the Steelers coming to town next Sunday.  After that it goes at Jacksonville, home against Oakland and Tampa Bay, at Cincinnati, then home against Houston.  They really do have a chance to make some noise, that is not a murder's row of opponents.  They have scored at least 21 points in their first four games for the first time since 1969.  They are stressful but apparently never out of the game.  They have a local boy leading them.  There is a lot to like here.  Although it wasn't pretty, they won.  And a win is a win.  The Kardiac Kids are back, keep your defibulators close by.


Random gifs

Hoyer's got some wiggle

Damn Julio

Not great defense on the Hail Mary, USC (sorry D)

Bonus Pic - Saddest Browns fans