Cleveland Browns: 5 Lessons learned vs. Titans in Week 1
The Cleveland Browns looked shaky at best in their season-opener against the Titans, so what can they take away from the Week 1 contest?
That’s one way to slow down the hype train. The Cleveland Browns‘ much-ballyhooed 2019 season debut went just about as poorly as possible as they were routed by the Tennessee Titans, 43-13.
On the first drive of the game, it seemed like the Browns might be on their way to a dominant performance in Week 1 as they marched down the field with ease for a touchdown. That was the only thing that came easy for Cleveland on the day, though. The offensive line gave way after that while the discipline of the team completely fell apart with an inordinate amount of penalties.
Furthermore, the Browns defense couldn’t come up with stops when they needed to and the Browns offense, particularly Baker Mayfield, began making costly mistakes when playing from behind. The result was a disastrous debut for a team that many considered the most exciting group in the NFL to start the 2019 season.
It’s just one game and it’s just Week 1, so it’s good to be careful to not overreact. Having said that, these are the lessons that the Cleveland Browns must learn from the devastating Week 1 loss at the hands of Tennessee.
5. The penalties have to be cleaned up
Every team is going to accrue penalties. But the Cleveland Browns did so at an absurd level on Sunday in the blowout loss to the Titans. The Browns amassed an unbelievable 18 penalties for 182 yards on the day, tied for the second most penalties in a game in franchise history. It’s hard to win football games when you’re conceding 182 yards to mental mistakes, including your starting left tackle, Greg Robinson, kicking a player and getting ejected.
Though there are big personalities in Cleveland, this lack of discipline in regard to penalties is simply unacceptable. These were drive-killers for the Browns offense and drive-sustainers for the Titans offense when the Cleveland defense was getting flagged. Good teams don’t let penalties derail them to this degree, which is a massive reason for the 30-point defeat at home.