Browns vs. Titans: 5 best games of all-time
By Thomas Moore
Oct 5, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Travis Benjamin (11) makes a catch against the Tennessee Titans during the second half at LP Field. The Browns beat the Titans 29-28. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
This will be the second consecutive season the Browns and Titans will play each other, and if Sunday’s game is anything like last season’s contest, it will be a home opener to remember.
All the Browns did last October was erase a 25-point deficit in rallying to beat Tennessee in what was not only the biggest comeback in franchise history (surpassing a 1966 win against the New York Giants), but also the biggest road comeback in NFL history.
The Browns fell behind 28-3 in the first half after Titans’ quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, in for the injured Jake Locker, hit Justin Hunter with a 75-yard touchdown reception.
Brian Hoyer started the comeback by hitting tight end Jim Dray with a one-yard touchdown pass right before halftime, and then Hoyer really took off in the second half.
While the defense held Tennessee scoreless in the second half, Hoyer hit Travis Benjamin with a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the second one with just a little more than a minute remaining, to pull out the win.
The final touchdown drive was set up by a huge fourth-down play by the defense, which stuffed Whitehurst on a fourth-and-one on the Tennessee with just a little more than three minutes remaining.
“We talked about how to win on the road is to be a team. To me, we showed that the mental toughness that we’ve been talking about, resiliency,” Browns head coach Mike Pettine said after the game. “Football’s about, just like all sports are, it’s how do you handle adversity? As I said, we prefer not to have that much heaped on us and dig that big of a whole, but at the same time, I just think it really did speak to the character of the men that were in the room, coaches and players.”
Hoyer finished the game 21-of-37 for 292 yards and three touchdowns.
The victory would start the Browns on a streak that would seem them in six-of-eight games and carry them to the top of the AFC North standings.
Next: No. 2: The lone playoff game