Deshaun Watson went 27-of-33 passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Cleveland Browns to a 27-3 home win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Amari Cooper caught seven passes for 116 yards and a touchdown and Elijah Moore caught nine passes for 49 yards as Cleveland improved to 2-1.
The Browns’ defense dominated, sacking Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill five times and limiting Derrick Henry to just 20 yards rushing on 11 carries. Cleveland’s Myles Garrett was credited with 3 1/2 sacks.
Tannehill completed 13 of 25 passes for 104 yards, while guiding Tennessee (1-2) to just six first downs and 94 yards of total offense.
On the other side, Cleveland amassed 23 first downs and had 341 yards of total offense.
Cleveland possessed the ball for an overwhelming 38:29 of game time.
Leading 13-3 at halftime, Cleveland opened it up to a 20-3 lead with 5:49 remaining in the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by Jerome Ford to finish off an 11-play, 85-yard drive.
The Browns then went up 27-3 with 6:51 remaining in the game on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Cooper.
Cleveland opened the scoring with 7:49 remaining in the first quarter on a 48-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins before Tennessee tied the game with 14:14 left in the first half on a 44-yard field goal by Nick Folk.
The Browns took a 10-3 lead with 9:39 to go in the second quarter on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Ford before going up 13-3 with one minute left until halftime on a 52-yard field goal by Hopkins.
Watson’s gaudy numbers came while Cleveland struggled to run the ball in its first game playing without running back Nick Chubb, who is lost for the season with a knee injury.
Cleveland gained 78 yards on 31 carries (2.5 yards per carry) as a team.
–Field Level Media
