By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special contributor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- My review of the Titans' 43-13 opening day win in Cleveland...

The Titans' offensive play calling took the pressure off the offensive line for most of the game. A couple of chunk plays to WR A.J. Brown and one to RB Derrick Henry was all the team needed to keep the Browns’ defense off balance.

The screen game to Dion Lewis was not a factor and the team did not need to utilize Adam Humphries or Corey Davis.

I thought offensive coordinator Arthur Smith did a great job of calling plays vs. the Browns personnel groups on the field and Marcus Mariota did a very good job of executing those plays. Smith called an excellent game in the first half with a mix of run, pass, play-action, screens and rollouts. Did Mariota play perfectly? No.

But he was accurate when he needed to be and found his favorite target, Delanie Walker, twice for touchdowns. 

CLEVELAND – The game was very much still in question when the Browns got a short Baker Mayfield-to-David Njoku touchdown pass with 2:10 left in the third quarter Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Titans 15, Browns 13 and a game that may have been starting to tilt in the home team’s favor.

Tennessee took it back in one snap.

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CLEVELAND – The Titans made the Browns look highly overrated on opening day at First Energy Stadium, gradually dismantling their undisciplined hosts en route to a massive 43-13 win.

They minimized its meaning beyond Sunday, and no one should tout it as more than one game because Cleveland serves to show the danger of thinking you’re really on to something. But considering many of the ingredients in Tennessee’s win, it should at least serve notice of what the team is capable of: Big plays, takeaways, ball-security, composure and patience among them.

The defense settled in and was stifling, sacking golden child Baker Mayfield five times and picking him off on three occasions while holding receiver sensation Odell Beckham to a 10.1-yard average on seven receptions.

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Welcome to the mailbag, which I hope helps do a bit to tide you over until noon on Sunday.

#Titans #PKmail Generally speaking, early in the season, historically and statistically, do defenses come together more quickly than offenses, making for lower scoring games? This occurred to me watching last night’s game, while pondering TN VS Cleveland this weekend.

— Joe Scutella (@JoeScutella) September 6, 2019

PK: I think defenses do have an easier time gelling – there is less for them to time up as they are often reacting. But Friday on Midday 180

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special contributor

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- My Cleveland Browns game preview...

Matchup concerns for the Titans:

Myles Garrett vs. Dennis Kelly

This matchup will dictate so many things that the Titans want to do on offense. First, they will not be able to match Kelly vs. Garrett 1 on 1. Kelly is a solid backup tackle with the ability to play multiple games as a starter, but he isn’t a true starter in the NFL.

Kelly is best on as a right tackle. On the left side, he is weak to his inside (right) hand. This issue has shown up multiple times in the preseason because Kelly oversets to his outside to take away the speed rush which he is less athletically capable to handle. Kelly has great size and does have strength in his frame, but he lacks the ability to recover and redirect his feet in pass protection.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The time together up front that is such a big ingredient in football team-building didn’t pan out quite as the Titans envisioned in the preseason.

Camp started with news that Taylor Lewan would start the season with a four-game suspension for a performance-enhancing drug violation. And the right guard slot seems to have been won more by default than on merit by Kevin Pamphile after the Titans tested multiple options and lost a chance for Nate Davis to develop when he missed a lot of work with an unknown injury.

Nevertheless, the guys up front feel they’ve grown the sort of familiarity and communication that is crucial to working together successfully to protect a quarterback and carve holes for running backs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – High at midfield at in the end zone, teams have camera people filming games and practices.

The two overhead angles are what players and coaches watch as they study their opponents, and themselves, while preparing for games like the Titans’ season opener Sunday at Cleveland.

Coaches roll it in meetings on giant screens and can stop and start, stop and start and roll forward and back, forward and back with the clicker that becomes part of their hands. Players have all the same stuff on iPads which also contain the game plan and playbook.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – He’s part of a tight-knit, hard-working group that should maximize his chances to reach his potential.

Yet it feels like something is still missing for Adoree’ Jackson, the 2017 first-round cornerback who’s had great success, like shutting down Josh Gordon, and some low moments, like getting torched by T.Y. Hilton. Those games were separated by a week last season, which was a major problem.

Then in camp, Mike Vrabel spoke of Jackson’s focus as an issue. He recovered against an in-breaking route in Philadelphia in preseason Week 1 but then tried to break up the pass with the wrong arm and wound up burned for a 75-yard touchdown by Marken Michel.