Tennessee Titans: 9 takeaways from Week 1 win over Browns

CLEVELAND, OH - SEPTEMBER 08: Kevin Byard #31 of the Tennessee Titans celebrates with Ben Jones #60 of the Tennessee Titans and Malcolm Butler #21 of the Tennessee Titans after intercepting a Cleveland Browns pass in the third quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium on September 08, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio. Tennessee defeated Cleveland 43-13. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) /

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Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.

NASHVILLE, TN – CIRCA 2011: In this handout image provided by the NFL, Arthur Smith of the Tennessee Titans poses for his NFL headshot circa 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by NFL via Getty Images) /

Arthur Smith is a solid play-caller

A bunch of Titans had great debuts, but perhaps none better than offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Smith’s offensive gameplan was a thing of beauty and he had the Titans offense rolling in the second half after a slow start.

One example of an OC knowing what he’s doing was the 47-yard pass play to A.J. Brown in the first quarter. Smith knew he could take advantage of the Browns’ safeties, and he did so by dialing up a deep ball to Brown, who was wide open deep down the middle of the field.

We saw Smith spread it out and try to take advantage of all the weapons he has at his disposal, and he also showed that he has no problem with letting Derrick Henry be the undisputed No. 1 back over Dion Lewis, who showed us nothing on Sunday.

And what did Henry do with that? 159 total yards and two touchdowns. Once Henry got rolling, Smith used play action to really keep the Browns defense on its heels.

Smith couldn’t have called a better game, and 43 points on the board is the proof in the pudding for that.

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