Dawgs By Nature
This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns take on the Tennessee Titans. Below, we analyze a few advantages, disadvantages, or general thoughts about the two teams before getting to our predictions for the game.
Last week, I was hoping that the Browns could rally together and pull off an upset due to the weather conditions against the 49ers. However, I had noted that, ‘Unless special teams screws things up, both teams should be very even in this game.’ Not only did special teams screw it up, they did it again, and again, and again, and again. Sure, the defense also failed on third down in those short field situations, but the bulk of the blame goes on special teams. If special teams wasn’t a factor, I still think the Browns could have been in a game where they’re trying to win it or seal it on the final possession.
Such is life where there is a different league of teams, though. I didn’t look at the 49ers and see a team that blew Cleveland away, but they make less overall mistakes and have better coaching, which allows the 49ers to come out on top or pull away in those types of games, whereas the Browns will crumble. This week’s opponent, the Tennessee Titans, fall into the league of teams that Cleveland belongs in: bottom of the barrel right now. This game should be very similar to the one that the Browns pulled off against the Las Vegas Raiders a couple weeks ago. The Titans can’t protect Cam Ward too well, and their defense is nothing to write home about. Cleveland should win the field position battle, and then we could see Quinshon Judkins in some of those Wildcat plays again down in the red zone.
However, the Titans have a dangerous punt return unit, so that could always present the X-Factor scenario that the happened when Cleveland lost to the Jets. That Jets game was one that Cleveland should have won in a cakewalk, but you just can’t predict special teams playing a factor like that when making predictions, even though it’s happened time and time again. So here we are again, with me expecting Shedeur Sanders to get his first home win in comfortable fashion.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz talked about the defense allowing touchdowns instead of field goals off of short fields last week:
“Yeah, that was probably the biggest thing in that game. We did a lot of really good things in that game. Like we held them to less than four yards, I think it was like 3.8 yards of play, which is really good. You know, (Christian) McCaffrey, the leading scrimmage yards, I think he had like 75 yards on a lot of touches. He was like 2.8 a touch, which is obviously what you got to do with those guys. I think really that that game, in, whatever the crucible, whatever you want to call it, was the...
