Chiefs, Browns and Chargers among top-5 games for Titans in 2019
By Brady Akins
2. Week 1 vs. Cleveland Browns
Entertainment Factor: 10/10
Drama: 4/10
Season Importance: 7/10
TOP FIVE THINGS THAT MADE THIS GAME WONDERFUL:
5. Week One games always hit different, and the Titans hadn’t won one since 2015. That’s three straight seasons of getting off on the wrong foot. Having that seven month stretch of anticipation from the Super Bowl to the start of the new year pay off with a win made the wait worth it.
4. AJ Brown took one passing glance at the tepid expectations for rookie receivers in the NFL and blew right past them about two minutes into his first drive with the team. Finishing with 100 yards on three highlight-reel catches, Brown wasted no time in announcing his NFL arrival with a masterpiece debut to the game. Kanye West had College Dropout, Quentin Tarantino had Reservoir Dogs, and AJ Brown had Week One against the Cleveland Browns.
3. The Titans looked good on both sides of the ball! In what was the first time in as long as I could remember. The offense was a big play waiting to happen, on the ground, and especially through the air (which we’re used to now, but an effective Tennessee passing game looked like witchcraft back in Week One). The defense forced sacks, created turnovers, and held the Browns offense to just 13 points.
2. Sticking it to the media’s preseason Super Bowl darling on their home field. Remember when the Browns were crowned Super Bowl champions back in July? And remember when the Titans were written off as nothing more than a worthy sacrifice for Cleveland to roll through on their first step to football royalty? Blowing the doors off a team like that was fun. Doing it in their own home was even better.
1. Winning by enough to convince me that the 2019 Titans were the next 2007 Patriots. This is not a joke.