CLEVELAND — You could have seen how this would go.

Had the Cleveland Browns beaten the Titans on Sunday, as many expected they would, the biggest talking points would have been about the Browns, a resurgent franchise in position to take a huge step toward postseason relevance after so much misery.

That's why of all the scores on opening weekend of the NFL season, with the possible exception of Baltimore’s embarrassment of Miami, none raised more eyebrows than the one from Cleveland.

Yet since the Browns lost so handily to the Titans, that same spotlight is still nonetheless falling on them – what they did wrong, how they were humbled. Same old Browns, as it were.

But were these the same old Titans? That isn't coming up as much.

Best to not go crazy just yet. Cautious optimism is the right approach. This was a highly encouraging opener, but it wasn’t a perfect one. The Browns’ own woes did help considerably. It’s also worth noting, however, that the Titans stayed poised when the other side did not and coolly took advantage and took control of the game.

The sloppiness was largely one way. And a 30-point drubbing isn’t just a matter of one team doing enough to lose, anyway. The other guys did plenty to win, too.

Point: The Browns committed a whopping 18 penalties for 182 yards.

Counterpoint: The Titans committed only six for 54 yards.

Point: The Browns turned the ball over three times, letting things get silly in the later stages and creating a fairly deceptive final score.

Counterpoint: The Titans had zero turnovers. They were cautious offensively when the situation demanded it and picked their spots appropriately in being aggressive. Then when they got the lead, they were ruthless, causing those turnovers and turning them into points quickly.

For this Titans team, it’s difficult to know yet what to make of such an emphatic victory in Week 1.

Impressive as that was, has much really changed in terms of national respect?

Even the good reviews from Sunday have carried a hint of a slight. ESPN’s Rex Ryan, for example, complemented an interception by safety Kevin Byard with the following: “That’s a great play by the safety that they paid a billion dollars to. Byrad or whatever the heck his name is.”

It’s nothing new for this team, but these Titans do understand this sort of thing is out there, and they are feeding off it. Enough players admitted that all the Browns’ hype was motivation for Sunday’s game.

This opener was a lesson in preseason expectations and how they can impact the mentality of the men playing this brutal game.

WIN TICKETS:Here's your chance to win a pair of tickets to the next Titans home game

Exterior hype is a dangerous thing in football. If you have it, there’s newfound pressure in addition to a larger target on your back. And if you don’t play to that standard, the pressure only grows and the situation worsens. You understandably start pressing, and Cleveland appeared to do just that. Maybe the Browns keep pressing, trying to match a standard and growing more frustrated if they can’t do it. That’s how underwhelming seasons can happen.

Conversely, the ideal scenario is what the Titans are enjoying. Few saw them coming. Few still see them coming. And they’re content to keep it that way.

“I feel like we just won the first game. I don’t think we made a statement,” cornerback Logan Ryan said.

Coach Mike Vrabel seemed to be a source of this mentality. He downplayed Sunday’s performance with his own team, telling his Titans in the locker room that “we’re going to do a lot better things than that, fellas.”

“Say as little as you possibly can (publicly),” Vrabel told players. “Say we’re moving on to the next one, just like we do. Winning ain’t that hard. But we’ve got to follow the plan, stick together and stay focused.”

The Titans seem like a team that quietly likes where it is right now. They understand things can change quickly, but they also understand how to win games.

One week, of course, is not enough to begin nurturing legitimate Super Bowl dreams. But what came out of Sunday’s surprising result in Cleveland was a growing hope for 2019 that a consistently good Tennessee team with a solid defense and what looked to be a more-explosive-than-expected offense just might have scratched where it itched this offseason, and that might be just enough to tempt great if things continue to fall right.

THE SMITH FACTOR: One of the more intriguing sights from the Titans' postgame locker room was the overwhelming reaction by players when offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was awarded a game ball for his debut performance in the role. That alone said a lot about this team and the man running its offense right now.

ABOUT DAVIS: It's too soon to count Corey Davis out as Tennessee's No. 1 receiver despite a lack of touches and targets in Sunday's game.

Why? Davis was on the field for 74% of offensive plays in Cleveland. None of the Titans' other receivers was out there more than 49% of the time, including rookie A.J. Brown (43%) and Adam Humphries (36%).

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com; Twitter: @Gentry_Estes.