Cleveland’s defense has been excellent once again through the first half of Sunday’s game against Tennessee, leading the team to a 13-3 lead at halftime.
The Titans had a chance to score at the end of the first half. But with no timeouts on third-and-10 from Cleveland’s 11-yard line, quarterback Ryan Tannehill was sacked by Myles Garrett. It was what Tennessee couldn’t afford to do, as time expired on the first half and the Titans remained down by 10.
Garrett has 2.5 sacks and two tackles for loss to go with his four QB hits.
Cleveland allowed just 67 yards in the first half and four first downs. Tennessee was 1-of-7 on third down.
Derrick Henry has four carries for -7 yards.
On the other side, Deshaun Watson has played better than he did on Monday night, completing 16-of-20 passes for 146 yards with a touchdown. But he got away with an inexplicable gaffe early in the second quarter. With pressure bearing down on him, Watson wildly threw the ball backwards to Elijah Moore who wasn’t able to catch it for a fumble. But Moore recovered the loose ball for a loss of 16.
The Titans defense bailed Watson out with a penalty on the next play, as Tennessee was flagged for defensive pass interference on a deep shot to Amari Cooper. The flag moved the ball down to the Tennessee 30.
A few plays later, Watson hit running back Jerome Ford on the left side for a 19-yard touchdown, making the score 10-3.
The Browns could have potentially had four more points if not for an inadvertent whistle. Watson hit Cooper down the left sideline and was on his way to outrunning the defense for a touchdown. But Cooper was incorrectly ruled out of bounds, giving the Browns a first down at the Tennessee 40 instead.
Cleveland ended up hitting a 52-yard field goal to make the score 13-3 with 1:00 left in the second quarter.
Tennessee will receive the second-half kickoff.