How Browns turned early mistakes into winning plays late against Titans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ― It’s all about second chances in a game. Nothing’s going to be perfect for a football team, even a winning team.

The Browns made a litany of errors over the course of four quarters at the Tennessee Titans. Every aspect that did, however, seemed to have a moment where they made amends for the negative play with a play that absolutely factored into what was a 27-24 victory over the Titans.

“We weren’t perfect,” coach Todd Monken said. “I mean, we turned the ball over a couple times and had a few opportunities down the field on some big plays, but we ran the ball better. We were ahead of the sticks. All the measurables other than turning it over, which we had been doing great at, we were significantly better. We ran the ball better. We were better on first down. We were more efficient in the pass game. We were more efficient on third down.”

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Andre Szmyt gets another chance to make amends

Start there at the end, if you would. The game ended on Andre Szmyt’s 32-yard field goal as time expired, the third time in the last four weeks the Browns won on a kick by him in the final 10 seconds of a game.

It was also the second week in a row where Szmyt had to attone for an earlier miss that could’ve helped at least make things easier for the Browns. This time, it was a 43-yard field goal that doinked off the right upright with 14:04 remaining and Cleveland leading 17-14.

A week earlier, Szmyt missed from 48 midway through the fourth quarter that could’ve give the Browns a three-point lead over the Baltimore Ravens. Instead, he had to make a kick with ona untimed down to win that one.

“You know, obviously want to make the one before,” Szmyt said. “Same thing goes for last week. But the team trusts me to go out and perform in those moments. So, I’m happy I came through.”

Szmyt’s game-winner was set up by Deshaun Watson’s latest exhibit of fourth-quarter magic. The Browns are 5-2, and four of those five have been decided on game-winners in the last two minutes, including three in the final 10 seconds.

Deshaun Watson opens with pick, finishes with flourish

Watson helped put the Browns in a bad spot early with an interception thrown on the Browns’ first possession. That pick by Cor’Dale Flortt put the Titans at the Browns 41.

Tony Pollard turned that into his second touchdown run. That put the Titans up 14-0 with 8:35 remaining.

Watson started 1-for-2 for 4 thanks to that ill-timed interception, one where the intended wide receiver, Denzel Boston, tried to run around Flott instead of what he’s been taught to do. He would finish 25-of-36 for 308 yards, his first 300-plus-yard performance since joining the Browns in 2022.

That included going 3-for-3 for 50 yards on the final drive, with the first snap happening with 53 seconds remaining from the Browns 31. The last 36 of those were a completion to tight end Harold Fannin Jr. to the Titans 19 with three second remaining.

“Yeah, we just, again, being in this league for 10 years now, I understand that a lot of games are going to come down to that, if not every game,” Watson said. “So if we’re close enough in it, we have those opportunities. We just got to lock in and that’s where the pressure and the most important you got to really be on your Ps and Qs. And I go really, really hard with my coaching staff each and every week in two minutes before the half and at the end of the game especially. And that’s something that we really watch tape on and focus on.”

Defense turns game around with goal-line stand

That tape-watching will extend to the defensive side of the football, where the slow starts aren’t just limited to the offense. The Titans didn’t just get off to a 14-0 lead because of a couple of bad plays, either.

Pollard ran over the Browns for 77 yards on eight carries over the fist two Tennessee possession, both of which ended with him running for a touchdown. The running back, who had 161 yards and two scores for the Titans in 2025 in Cleveland, finished with 129 yards and three touchdowns, the last of which tied the game at 24-24 with 58 seconds remaining.

That third score, though, nearly happened with 11:24 remaining in the second quarter. That’s when Pollard was initially ruled in on a four-year run, but replay changed to a three-yard run, with the ball a football’s length from the goal line.

The Titans never got that football’s length. Quarterback Cam Ward was stuffed for no gain on second down, sacked for no gain on third down by Adin Hutington, before Pollard was stopped for no gain on fourth down by linebacker Winston Reid.

“We know with that formation, they was trying to get the linebackers out the box and then they just do direct runs with it,” cornerback Tyson Campbell said. “So we just did a scheme to keep the linebackers in the box, allowing them to play the run more aggressively. So I feel like once we slowed that down, we were able to start getting in a groove.”

The Titans’ next four possessions would include an interception by cornerback Denzel Ward, despite a heavily-wrapped right pinky, as well as Campbell punching the ball out of wide receiver Carnell Tate’s hands for a fumble. There were also two punts in there.

Offense bails out defense in fourth quarter with two scoring drives

The defense would get leaky again in the fourth quarter. The Titans netted 119 yards on 21 plays in that quarter.

Not only that, but they scored 10 points to twice tie the game. However, both times the defense gave up the lead, the offense as able to get it back.

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The first was a eight-play, 71-yard drive that ended with Watson running for a nine-yard touchdown and a 24-17 lead with 4:34 remaining. The second was the four-play, 55-yard drive that ended with Szmyt walking it off with another game-winning kick.

“Some games, one phase may not be on their game, but we don’t point any fingers,” Campbell said. “We step up, keep doing our job and eventually every phase will get in the groove and that’s what happened today. We got in the groove at the right time and we trusted one another. Once they tied it up, the offense was like, ‘All right, it’s our time to put points in the board.’ And that’s what it did, executed.”

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How Browns turned early mistakes into winning plays late against Titans

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