Cleveland Browns vs. Tennessee Titans: Report Card Grades for Tennessee
The Tennessee Titans had some bad calls made against them on Sunday and lost Jake Locker to a thumb injury in the first half, but that doesn't excuse blowing the biggest lead in team history.
Despite being behind 28-3 in the second quarter, the Cleveland Browns scored 26 unanswered points to win 29-28. The Titans were the clearly superior team for most of the matchup but managed to make enough mistakes, mostly in the form of penalties, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It was one of the sloppiest games the Titans have ever played, and the loss puts them in serious contention for the first overall pick in the next draft.
That said, here are game grades for the individual units.
Quarterback
1 of 9
Charlie Whitehurst started strong, throwing two touchdowns in his first three plays. His numbers don't look that bad, but those numbers are misleading.
He completed 13 of 21 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. However, 75 of those yards came on one pass, and many of his completions were short passes on third down.
The real number that matters is zero. That's the number of points that the Titans scored in the second half against a Browns defense that was missing Phil Taylor and had been easily pushed aside by the Titans in the first.
For what it's worth, Jake Locker was solid in his time on the field. He had some bad throws, but he threw a touchdown, ran for another and led the team right to the end zone before his injury.
The grade mostly reflects Whitehurst's performance.
Grade: D
Running Backs
2 of 9
The running game has been one of the few areas where the Titans have consistently had success. Strangely, it got off to a slow start against the Browns.
Eventually, the ground game got going, and all three backs averaged more than three yards per carry. Shonn Greene saw most of the carries again, but Bishop Sankey saw more action early on than he has before, ending up with eight carries for 27 yards.
Of course, Ken Whisenhunt didn't call many runs late in the game, so there were only so many carries to go around.
Grade: B
Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 9
Kendall Wright was fantastic against the Browns. Not only did he have two receiving touchdowns and 47 receiving yards, but he also had a couple of carries. One of those went for 38 yards.
Delanie Walker was quieter than usual, though. He only had four passes thrown his way but caught all four for 47 yards.
Justin Hunter was the team's leading receiver with 99 yards and a touchdown, but 75 of those yards came on a single play.
Even with as many highlights as they had, the receivers can't be blameless in the horrible second half. They missed some catches that could have been difference-makers.
Grade: B-
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Offensive Line
4 of 9
The Titans offensive line has a lot of money put into it, but it's far from an elite unit. While the pass protection and run blocking were acceptable against the Browns, the offensive line was responsible for many of the penalties.
Andy Levitre, Taylor Lewan and Michael Oher had personal fouls, and they all took a big toll on the Titans. There were also some holds, false starts and some other penalties at the wrong times.
Penalties, as much as anything else, kept the Titans from locking up the game, so the unit that was responsible for most of those penalties takes a big part of the blame for the loss.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 9
You would think, based on the score, that the Titans have a terrible defense. And you would be wrong.
While the Titans defense has given up a lot of points, it's largely the offense's fault. When an offense can't stay on the field or gives its opponents a short field, it makes things much tougher on the defense. That happened here.
Ropati Pitoitua and Jurrell Casey consistently brought pressure. Shaun Hill knocked down two passes, and Al Woods had four total tackles and a tackle for loss.
The defensive line could have defended the run better, but that mostly falls on the linebackers.
Grade: B-
Linebackers
6 of 9
Missed tackles have been a problem for the linebackers since Week 2. Ben Tate rushed for a career-high 123 yards against the Titans, becoming the latest in a string of running backs to have huge games against the Titans.
Avery Williamson was surprisingly good in pass coverage, but both he and Wesley Woodyard had problems tackling Tate. Kamerion Wimbley was the only linebacker to have a tackle for loss.
Derrick Morgan had a fair game until he picked up a personal foul and was ejected. Those kinds of mistakes are costly, and whatever he did to be ejected (it wasn't televised or announced) had to be something beyond the typical pushing and shoving.
That is inexcusable.
Grade: D+
Defensive Backs
7 of 9
As a unit, the Titans secondary had four defended passes and two interceptions, one of which was called back, and three of the team's four top tacklers were defensive backs. You'd think that meant that the group had a good game, but that was not the case.
Jason McCourty had another bad game. He got beaten in coverage too many times by lesser receivers. He wasn't terrible, but as the unit's best player, he has to be better than that, especially when the Titans are already missing a starting corner.
Michael Griffin and Bernard Pollard both contributed to pressuring the quarterback, but both also let receivers catch balls that they should have been able to defend.
Coty Sensabaugh had a solid game, but he left early with an injury.
Brandon Harris and Marqueston Huff each cost the Titans a turnover with penalties.
Grade: C-
Special Teams
8 of 9
Special teams play was riddled with mistakes. Brett Kern punted well, and Ryan Succop nailed all the extra points, but everything else was a mess.
A punt was blocked that resulted in a safety, and Beau Brinkley picked up a personal foul on a late hit that gave the Browns great starting field position, but that wasn't the worst mistake on special teams.
Marqueston Huff was blocked out of bounds and didn't re-enter immediately, so when he recovered the fumbled punt, the ball went back to the Browns. Had that not happened, the Titans likely would have scored or at least gotten a field goal.
That would have put the Titans up further and probably would have killed the Browns' momentum.
Grade: F
Coaching
9 of 9
I have no idea what Ken Whisenhunt was doing in this game. Despite being in a comfortable lead, controlling the game on both sides of the ball and having his backup quarterback in the game, he all but abandoned the run in the fourth quarter.
There was also the mind-blowing decision to go for it via a quarterback sneak from Whitehurst on fourth down, as well as a few other head-scratchers in play-calling.
More than anything else though, a coach is the one to blame when the team plays sloppily. The Titans' seven penalties all came at the most inopportune times, and many of them were drive-killers.
There was plenty of bad play to go around, but the buck stops with the head coach, and in my mind, he takes most of the blame.
Grade: F
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