CLEVELAND (AP) — Tony Pollard rushed for a career-high 161 yards and two touchdowns, Cam Ward passed for two scores and the Tennessee Titans held off the Cleveland Browns 31-29 on Sunday to snap a seven-game skid.
Cleveland’s Shedeur Sanders passed for 364 yards and three touchdowns in his third start, and he also ran for a score in a matchup of rookie quarterbacks. However, Sanders threw a costly interception in the third quarter that led to Tennessee’s go-ahead TD.
Sanders’ father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was in attendance. Coach Prime was at his son’s first NFL start on Nov. 23 at Las Vegas, but missed last week’s home game against San Francisco.
The Titans (2-11) had a 31-17 lead with 6:17 remaining before the Browns scored a pair of touchdowns. Sanders had a 7-yard scramble with 4:27 left and threw a 7-yard TD pass to Harold Fannin Jr. with 1:03 remaining, but the Browns (3-10) missed both of their 2-point conversion attempts.
Cleveland attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Tennessee’s Chimere Dike and the Titans ran out the clock.
Ward, the top overall pick in April’s NFL draft, completed 14 of 28 passes for 117 yards and had his first game with at least two touchdowns. The victory was interim coach Mike McCoy’s first in seven games since he replaced the fired Brian Callahan.
Pollard, who had 25 carries, had a career-high 65-yard TD run late in the first quarter to give the Titans a 14-3 lead. After Cleveland rallied to take a 17-14 halftime advantage, Pollard put the Titans up for good with a 32-yard carry off left tackle. The third-quarter touchdown came two plays after Titans safety Xavier Woods picked off an ill-timed deep pass by Sanders and returned it 35 yards to the Browns 38.
After Cedric Gray recovered Dillon Sampson’s fumble and returned it 19 yards to the Cleveland 8, the Titans extended their lead to 28-17 on Ward’s 5-yard TD to Chimere Dike.
Joey Slye’s field goal made it a two-touchdown advantage. That came after James Williams Sr. blocked a Cleveland punt.
Sanders completed 23 of 42 passes and was the Browns’ first rookie quarterback since Baker Mayfield to have a 300-yard game. Fellow rookie Fannin finished with eight receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.
The Titans scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time this season when Ward hit Ayomanor on a crossing route for a 14-yard score. Ward was 4 of 4 for 48 yards on the eight-play drive. Tennessee came into the game as the only team without a TD on an opening drive.
On his long TD run, Pollard went around right end and accelerated through a gap up the right sideline. He changed direction after Titans receiver Van Jefferson blocked Browns cornerback Denzel Ward at the Cleveland 35. Ward made one more attempt at a diving tackle but couldn’t catch Pollard.
The TD put the Titans ahead by two scores for the first time in 24 games. The last time was Week 5 last season against Buffalo, when Tennessee took a 10-0 lead before the Bills scored the next 34 points.
Sanders had a strong second quarter to help the Browns take a 17-14 halftime lead.
He found David Njoku in the left corner of the end zone on third-and-goal at the Titans 1. With 2:47 remaining, Sanders gave the Browns the lead with a 60-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, the receiver’s second TD this season.
Cleveland’s Myles Garrett became the 14th player to record 20 sacks in a season when he got to Ward in the second quarter. With four games left, he needs three sacks to break the NFL record of 22 1/2 shared by Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Pittsburgh’s TJ Watt.
Titans: OT Dan Moore suffered a neck injury in the third quarter.
Browns: WR Malachi Corley (concussion) was injured in the second quarter. C Ethan Pocic (calf) and CB Denzel Ward (calf) left in the second half.
Titans: At San Francisco next Sunday.
Browns: At Chicago next Sunday.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
