The streak continues.
Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson led his fifth winning scoring drive of the season, and the Browns defeated the Tennessee Titans 27-24 on Andre Szmyt's 32-yard field goal as time expired on Oct. 25 at Nissan Stadium.
It extended the Titans’ drought without back-to-back wins, which hasn’t happened since 2022. Tennessee fell to 2-20 at home since 2024 and 7-34 overall since 2023.
The Titans (1-6) tied the game at 24-24 on Tony Pollard’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:01 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Watson drove the Browns (5-2) right back down the field, where Szmyt won the game.
Pollard recorded his seventh 100-yard rushing game with the Titans, netting 129 yards and three TDs on 25 carries.
Titans quarterback Cam Ward
failed to ignite the offense, completing 20-of-31 passes for 181 yards, no touchdowns and one interception against the Browns (5-2).
The Titans blew a 14-0 first-quarter lead against the Browns, surrendering 17 consecutive points and 277 yards of offense before intermission. Tennessee was outscored 27-10 overall after its big early lead.
Tennessee recorded two takeaways but committed two turnovers of its own.
The Titans last won back-to-back games in 2022 when they beat the Denver Broncos on Nov. 13, 2022 and Green Bay Packers on Nov. 17, 2022.
Cam Ward stats not enough for Tennessee Titans
A busy news cycle — the Titans won their first game in Week 6 and then details surfaced about former defensive lineman Jordan Elliott pulling a gun at the team facility — seemed to overshadow Cam Ward’s career-worst day against the Colts, with 11 completions and 102 yards passing.
Some of that carried over into Week 7.
Ward still has not thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game this season. His highest completion percentage is 65% and he’s thrown an interception in five consecutive games.
He had Garrett Bellinger open for a touchdown with 2:33 in the fourth quarter and overthrew him.
Ward did have a big third-and-12 conversion on a pass to Carnell Tate that set up Pollard’s 1-yard TD that tied the game at 24-24 with just over a minute left.
Trending up: Tennessee offense in first quarter
The Titans led 14-7 after one quarter was an unrecognizable look considering the way first halves have hampered them through six weeks.
Tennessee’s 127 total yards in the first quarter against the Browns was more than it produced in any first half this season except for Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens. The Titans’ 88 yards rushing in the first quarter surpassed their first-half marks in any game except for Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Titans running back Tony Pollard rushed for 60 yards on five carries on the first drive, including a 36-yard TD that put the Titans up 7-0.
On the Browns first drive, Flott sat in front of a route and intercepted Watson, setting up a short field for the offense. Pollard’s 10-yard TD gave the Titans a 14-0 lead still with 8:35 left in the quarter.
Trending down: Titans offensive droughts
Flashes of offense followed by lulls have hurt Tennessee, and the first-half struggles returned.
The Titans had two opportunities to take a two-score lead in Cleveland territory in the second quarter and came away with zero points.
The Titans led 14-7 early in the second quarter when they bungled a short-field opportunity, getting all the way to the Browns 1-yard line only to get stuffed on third and fourth down.
Ward was dragged down on a third-and-goal pass play from inside the 1 and lost half a yard. On the next play, defensive tackle Maliek Collins stuffed Pollard’s attempt to drive into the end zone for a turnover on downs.
Then after linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. got Tennessee the ball back at the Browns’ 44-yard line with a forced fumble just before halftime, Ward was intercepted by Denzel Ward on a pass thrown behind Elic Ayomanor.
Cleveland answered with a 72-yard touchdown drive to tie it 14-14 before half and kicked a field goal after forcing a Tennessee three-and-out to lead 17-14 at the break.
Tyler Palmateer covers the Tennessee Titans for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Inside Titans loss to Browns after blowing 14-0 lead
