Browns vs. Titans-How Low Can the Score Go
Welcome Browns fans to week 7 of the season. Sunday the AFC North leading 4-2 Browns travel to Nashville’s Nissan Stadium to take on the 1-5 Tennessee Titans. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will meet-up at Burke’s Public House for all the game action. Sunday’s game will feature a match up of two of the NFL least productive offenses. The Browns offense enters week 7 ranked 28th in the league averaging just 17.7 points per game. Not to be outdone, the Titans are ranked 30th averaging an even worse 14 points per game. The Browns are 29th in total offense while Tennessee is last averaging only 236 yards per game. Last Sunday the Titans earned their first win of the season beating the Colts 26-20 despite gaining just 186 total yards and scoring one offensive touchdown. After falling behind 13-0 in the first half the Titans utilized 3 turnovers from their defense, a blocked punt for a TD, a 58-yard punt return along with 4 field goals to get the victory. Titans QB Cam Ward completed 11 of 22 passes for 102 yards with 1 TD for a 59.8 QB rating. With both teams having all sorts of problems scoring on offense, Sunday’s game looks to be a low scoring contest with the Browns 5th ranked scoring defense possibly being the deciding factor in a Browns victory. Since their opening week 34-10 loss to Jacksonville the Browns defense is giving up less than 18 points per game enroute to winning 4 of their last 5 games. The defense is 10th in yards per play, 8th in pass yards per game and 4th in opponents pass completion percentage. Tennessee comes in averaging a league low 153.5 yards per game and 5.6 yards per pass.
Browns Injury Report
Sunday the Browns plan to welcome back DT Mason Graham and RB Quinshon Judkins to the starting line-up while CB Denzel Ward (hand), S Grant Delpit (concussion), RB Dylan Sampson (knee) and LB Quincy Williams (neck) are all listed as questionable for the game. DT Mike Hall and OG Teven Jenkins are out for the game. If Ward, Delpit and Williams are all held out of the game the Browns defense which plays man to man pass defense a league leading 45% of the time may be forced to play more zone against Titans QB Cam Ward who has the lowest yards per pass average (3.8 yards) in the NFL against man coverages. Titans’ WR Calvin Ridley (5 catches, 16 yards per reception) and RB Tyjae Spears (3.7 yards per carry) are also listed as questionable for the game.
Browns Must Avoid Titans Trap Game
Despite their 1-5 record the Tennessee Titans represent a potentially dangerous opponent for the AFC North division leading Browns. While Titans’ QB Cam Ward has struggled since entering the league as the first pick of the 2025 NFL draft, he remains a talented dual threat QB capable of hurting opponents with both his legs and arm. Ward comes into Sunday’s game completing 61.6% of his passes averaging 5.6 yards per pass with 4 TD passes and 2 rushing TDs along with 4 interceptions for a 75.0 QB rating, 3rd worst among starting QBs. When not pressured in the pocket he’s completing almost 70% of his passes with 4 TDs and 1 interception for a 93.9 QB rating. When pressured his completion rate drops to 37.8% and he averages just 3.3 yards per pass while taking 4.3 seconds to throw, resulting a league low 19.6 QB rating with no TDs and 3 interceptions. He’s completed just 1 of 12 passes of 20 yards or more and 59% of his passes go for 9 yards or less. His favorite target is rookie WR Carnell Tate from Ohio State who has 29 receptions averaging 12 yards per catch with 1 TD, 3 drops and 2 fumbles. Opposite Tate is slot WR Wan’Dale Robinson who has 25 catches and 2 TDs. Veteran RB Tony Pollard averages 4 yards per carry with 2.8 of those yards coming after contact with 1 TD. The Titans have excellent special teams led by 2025 All Pro kick/punt returner Chimere Dike who currently leads the NFL in kick return yardage and last week had a 58-yard punt return that set up the Titans only offensive TD. In 2025 he returned 2 punts for touchdowns. Tennessee special teams also blocked a punt for a TD last week and their kicker Joey Slye is 9 of 10 on field goal attempts with a long of 56 yards. The Titans defense is led by 4-time Pro Bowl and 2025 All Pro DT Jeffery Simmons who has 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss tying Mason Graham for the lead among NFL DTs. LB Anthony Hill is 5th in the NFL in total tackles tied with the Browns Carson Schwesinger. Safety Amani Hooker leads the secondary with 2 interceptions.
The Robert Saleh Effect
Titans head coach Robert Saleh while the head coach of New York Jets in 2022 led his team to one of the Browns most dramatic and heart-breaking losses during Kevin Stefanski’s third year as Browns head coach. In week two, with the Browns coming off a rare opening week win, a Joe Flacco led 0-1 Jets team that hadn’t won a game in September in over 10 years came into Browns Stadium looking to pull off an upset. During the first half Saleh called a successful fake punt that led to a TD drive that tied the score at 7-7. After the Browns regained the lead in the second quarter, a late drive led to a tying Jet TD pass with 11 seconds to go in the first half. In the second half a Nick Chubb touchdown with 1:44 left in the game put the Browns up 30-17. Browns kicker Cade York then missed the extra point leaving the score at 30-17 with the Jets out of timeouts. A blown coverage in the Browns secondary resulted in a 66 yard TD pass from Flacco to Corey Davis with 1:22 left on the clock and the Browns still leading by 6. Saleh next called a successful on-side kick that the Jets recovered with a little over 1 minute left. With 12 seconds to go on the clock Flacco completed a 15-yard TD pass to Jet WR Garrett Wilson tying the score at 30-30 and the subsequent extra point gave the Jets an improbable 31-30 victory after they scored 2 TDs in less than 1 minute and 44 seconds. The Browns finished the season at 7-10 missing the playoffs. Memories!!
See you Sunday GO BROWN…..GO CAVS