DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2020 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 41 Titans 35 Taking down the the Titans

Big challenge.

They have a great RB and a defence that isn’t at all like the cupcakes we’ve been seeing this year.


Priority #1: make Tannehill beat us. What does Belichick do? He takes away your biggest threat and makes someone else beat you.

How do we do that? I have no idea lol, other then to swarm their bruising RB when he gets the ball and take him to the turf.

Priority #2: Run the ball as we’ve been doing, sprinkle in some Baker on play action and keep the Tennessee O off the field. Our OL has to pound on them and lead us to the Land of Six.

Priority #3: Win the turnover battle. Hopeful MG will be back and will dismantle Mr. Tannehill.

We can beat these guys; they’re very good but they aren’t THAT good.

Thoughts?

Load the box to try and stop Henry. Play tough man to man pass D in other words be physical with them and play them tight at the line. On O we have to keep moving the chains to keep there O on the bench which means run the ball and Baker hitting the throws he's been missing. Baker needs to have a good game. Both teams have a good rushing attack so I think it will come down to QB play. This is an important game not only for the much needed win but to prove to others we can beat a good team especially on the road. Would help the teams and our confidence too.

I agree - but Tannehill has been plenty good this season. I think with our poor D that has shown moments of opportunistic take aways, we need to [1] score points on most drives and chew clock [2] hope the D can create a magic moment once or twice and end up positive in the takeaway count and that we capitalize with points.

Fully expect this to be another game where their offense looks unstoppable for 98% of the game ... and we gotta just hope that when the ball bounces our way and we make a those 2 or 3 impact plays on D, that they are momentum changers.

This will be a game that you just throw away the tape after and move on to next week. Its going to be ugly with this defense, myles or not..a bad defense already is now depleted at key positions. Tannehill>>>>Baker which is what it will come down to

Out of the box thinking...go 5 DL players with Garrett as a middle LB spying on Henry.


Ok...as I said, out of the box thinking.

We tend to go for the ball rather than bring players down. With Henry, just him him low and bring him down. Don't monkey around trying to strip the ball and allow him to rumble another 7 yards until we get him down.

#1: don't turn the ball over.

#2 don't let Henry go nuts on you.

If we manage these 2 things, we stand a good chance of winning.

MGH888 is spot on. We cannot stop Tennessee from scoring, whether we sell out on Henry or try to play more balanced D. We have Myles and little else on the front end, and literally 0/4 starters in our secondary. The only way we have a chance is win the TO battle and score 30+. Doesn't have to be different than our normal run/pass balance...their D is not great. Just play smart and don't miss out on the opportunities given.

The Bengals stomped them with an all-backup OLine. How did they do it, and can we replicate that?

Burrow threw for two TDs and then they rushed for two more. There was only one turnover in that game, it seems, and it was an INT by Tannehill.
Henry still went off on them and the Bengals gave up over 200 yds rushing... but still won by 11 pts.

SOMEHOW, the Bengals forced only two punts but surrendered only three TDs and no FGs (1 attempt, missed). Were the Titans missing a bunch of guys??

I’m worried about Henry of course, but also about Brown. That dude is a stud and their PA game with him is deadly.

You have to bracket him IMO and put Mitchell on Davis.

Our offense might be the best way to get Henry out of the game. Vrabel is a smart coach and he's not going to outthink himself. He's going to make sure Henry gets the ball. The best way to get away from that is to put the pressure on their O to score. Make Tannehill shoulder more of the load.

j/c

This one isn't going to be pretty unless Baker lights it up like he did against Cincy.

Belichick always makes sure to address the opponents biggest threat and take it out of the game. Thats what we need to do even if other areas suffer a bit. Henry needs to be corralled.

Exactly. That's what I said in an earlier post. Baker needs to come up big in this game for us to win. His good play will open up the run game for us.

While listening to Cleveland Browns Daily from Monday, it seems apparent their offense is very much like our own. If we can limit Henry we then make it a game where Tannehill alone has to beat us.

Agree. He doesn't even have to play lights out, either. He just has to play good enough on a consistent basis for a string of plays to make sure the Titans defense stays honest.

Have no idea who will win this .. key for Brown's is to corral Henry , right ? Who is going to step up.. Goodson , Wilson , Smith ??? I don't see it happening.. The idea of Elliot at the middle LB IS INTERESTING.. You need Myles and Vernon on the Edge..

How about 31-30 Browns

I like it, as long as you are thinking out of the box.

Check this out, I want to see, 3 snaps of.
Myles Garrett on offense.

Double fullback run up the middle by the halfback following.
left 1 gap, tween Trettor and Bittonio...

1, Janovich! ahead of
2, Myles Garrett! ahead of
3, Hunt! up the middle

Chubb? you thought I was going to say Chubb didn't you. Oh well, outside of the box.

Hey at least agasint the Ravens...
I think I've heard someone on the radio broadcast say for years and years and years, and over and over, that when it comes to the Ravens' the best thing to do is
" run it right at them" don't run away from them.

Halfback WHAM!

(You know the Titans are going to line stunt, it worked for the Eagles. at least for a bit.)

j/c...

I'm taking the approach that if the Browns are able to compete with the Titans from start to finish, that win or lose, it should be viewed as a success.

Even if the Browns manage to slow down Henry our secondary will have a significant challenge covering Brown and Davis. Also, covering Smith will be a challenge for our LBs.

I expect the Browns will have to score 30+ for a chance in this one.

Browns have played multiple games in the last 2 years with one or the other of them not on the field.
They should be able to try a couple snaps or a "package" to see if it works out.

The thing I noticed about Tannehill in his bowl game in college,

That even though up 11 points with 7 or 8 minutes maybe 11 minutes to play in the 4th quarter,

He was still thowing deep outs, slinging them like he's down one score.

His weakness may be throwing an occasional interception, but, if you think the game plan is to "make tannehill beat you"

then I think you'll probably watch him do it.

I think the game plan is, should be,
Drop back look for the interceptions,

Sling the ball on offense and try to get a lead on them, which partially removes Henry as a threat.

Look! The Titans have 3 losses all year and one of them was to the BENGALS! now what's the one thing we know about the Bengals in 2020 before the injury.

The Bengals were a one trick pony, Joe Burrow Slinging the Ball for 500 yards, and nothing else!

The titans have 3 losses on the year and one of them, is to that. ^^^

Or does he only make you Think that's what he does.

I think the Browns have to re-invent their known offense in the next 3 and a half days,

to include

Hitting players with a completed pass,

in stride, running toward the end zone.
North/South, after the catch,

And I'm not talking about screen passes behind the line of scrimmage, I'm talking DOWN FIELD passes.

(and not that garbage clearly designed to draw the flag but never get completed, which has it's place, BUT, I'm talking actual completed passes that break away)

Stopping Henry is all well and good, but I doubt our secondary is gonna hold up.

No ward, no Harrison. And their receiver AJ Brown is starting to turn into a stud.

I think the best bet is to simply limit the amount of times the Titans offense is on the field, because I’m not sure we can stop them from scoring.

Their defense is good but I think we can run on them. But baker is gonna have to be far more accurate than the last few games so that we can keep that clock moving.

I think everybody is pretty much right about WHAT needs to happen. I think the important part is WHEN it happens. Our running game has started pretty slow in each of our last 5 or 6 games.... So, whether it's Baker making plays or the defense making plays, we have to stay in the game and keep it close (1 score +/-) into the 3rd quarter. At that point it becomes anybody's game.

Not sure if anybody realizes this but Chubb's YPC per quarter is:
1st - 4.8
2nd - 4.2
3rd - 5.1
4th - 12.5

Hunt's best quarter is the 4th also but it's not nearly as drastic. Oddly enough, Henry's 4th quarter is his best quarter as well.

We have to start faster, we have to keep it close or maintain a lead even if it's a slight one, we have to allow Chubb and Hunt to be a factor through the entire game, we can't get into a position where we start to abandon the run and allow Henry to start wearing out our defense.

The Browns and the Titans will have almost identical game plans this week.

Even at full strength this would be a hard game to win on thier home turf. Without taki, ward and Harrison on the defense it becomes alot harder. Henry is one of the best if not the best running backs in the league. He just put up 178 yards on a good colts defense. I feel like our run defense statistically is overrated. Teams know our pass defense is not very good and tend to attack through the air. The raider rushed for 202 on us. Both the eagles and jags had over 100 yards rushing on is before halftime. Tannehill has something like 27 pass td's and only 4 picks. Thier defense is middle of the pack, we can move the ball on them but it will probably be a shootout. Once again henry is the key factor here. Honestly I'm not sure how we can contain him.

Very good take Slick.

Like you often hear players say - the NFL is a game of matchups.

How do our lines hold up against theirs, and vice versa.
Can we cover their top receiving options, and can our gets open?

Both teams are going to run it, who will get the bigger plays? Which defense will be able to limit the big runs most effectively? Which offense will be able to profit the most from play-action?

Will our LBers be able to take away their TEs and run lanes better than theirs can take away ours?

I honestly don't know enough about the Titans to answer any of these.

I think our run D is more contain than stop at this point. And they have done a fair job of limiting run damage in recent games. Big plays when we need them...

Thank you, still hopeing we find a way to win

I think we need to sell-out to stop the run...if Tannehill then beats us, so be it.

We are such an incomplete and depleted defense that we cannot effectively 'stop' both the run and the pass...if we expect/focus to stop both the run and the pass against a team like the Titans, we will end up not stopping either. I expect to have the same opinion for the Rats game.

Henry is important to the game, but a lot of people make him out to be a lot better than he is. He is a one trick pony, if you disrupt that one trick(in a multitude of ways) he is not that great.

Henry makes his living getting to the outside to go after defensive backs. He has speed and size and that's about it. The teams that contain him do a couple of things. 1. They contain the outside runs. They force him to turn upfield into the scrum. He lacks suddenness and shiftiness. 2. Penetration. Force him to make his first move in the backfield and he is significantly limited in his ability to hurt you.

I live in Tennessee and watch and hear a good bit of Titans football. I'm not an expert but if you watch him I think you'll find this to be pretty accurate.

Our D is going to have to play their best game of the year to win this game. I believe most of the country will be watching . I hope we don't get embarrassed.

I do not find that to be accurate at all. Henry just slowly beats up a defense and then runs at will. I live 20 minutes outside of Nashville and I record a lot of their games. Actually Henry runs up the middle a lot.

He's just a bruiser who gradually beats you down.

Takitaki has been cleared to play and the Titans also have guys battling injury.. so I don't really see that as a viable excuse.

Our defenses are both essentially average at best. I expect both teams will move the ball and it will be big to force a few FGs and keep the Titans out of the endzone a couple times.

Henry is going to get his yards but so should Chubb and Hunt.. and if Baker can play reasonably well, continue to avoid the mistakes.. I see no reason why this game shouldn't come right down to the end..

If it comes down to the fourth quarter , I'll take the Browns !

If it comes to the Browns being within 3 or 4 points at the start of the 4th Q - I absolutely think we can come away with the W.

Is there an Offensive lineman standing around who can go in on defense and bolster up the middle? I know this is legal I've seen the Falcons do it. Maybe Kendall Lamm, make a 6 wide front line.

There is another recipe that may stop the run, I often recall the Defense I saw Bellichics Patriots use against Peyton Maning and the Colts some many years ago, that orig. had me thinking of the 2-5, because it worked so well against everything,
Runs, as well as short passes, and deep middle passes, apparently nothing worked.

Bellichic reduced all DL to no more than 2, and the other 9 players on defense were all hybrids,
hybrids of a Linebacker or a Safety, with maybe 1, maybe 2 real cornerbacks sprinkled in.

When the Defense took off at the snap, there always seemed to be 4 defenders anywhere the ball went.
if it stayed with the QB,
if the Rb had it
if it was a pass in the flat or a screen
if it was an out, if it was a quick in, hot route

Every play ran into a Willie McGinnest type player, no matter where it went, or a 4 defender cluster.
2 DL, sometimes 1, DL, and 10 or 11 linebackers, seemed like 20 linebackers on the field.
Or were they Safeties, who knew. It was devastating.

Safeties playing Lb,
LB's playing safety,
DB's lining up over center, Every snap something different. It worked.