Browns Drop Ball Against Raiders, 16-6; What Went Wrong
The Cleveland Browns lose to the Las Vegas, ending their undefeated season at home and dropping them to a still solid 5-3 record to wrap up the first half of their season heading to the bye week.
And the Browns looked like they were out of gas against the Raiders, who were able to continually driving down the field and holding onto the ball for the vast majority of the game.
The Browns defense is terrible, which was known coming into this game, but when Myles Garrett was already limited by an ankle and suffered a shot to his knee, the defense folded just as they did last year. His presence is the defense between at least pretending they have a defense and just getting overpowered and overrun as was the case in this game.
The defensive line has been battling through various ailments for the past month or so, but they got the best out of Olivier Vernon with a pair of sacks and Sheldon Richardson made an impact early. As the game went on, the Raiders took control up front and were able to lean on the Browns and Josh Jacobs found running lanes.
Mack Wilson can't play dead and the Browns are living a lie so long as they keep believing he is an answer to anything. When he's not out of position making a poor read, it's because he's 10 yards down field attached to an offensive lineman.
The linebacker group as a whole always seems to be a step slow and whiffs on far too many tackles. And it's not likely to get better this year. They have who they have and the offseason may be focused on replacing the players they have, but it's largely going to focus on relying on fewer of them.
Wind prevented the Raiders from being able to throw the ball down the field, but all they needed to do was clear out the secondary so they could pick on the second level defenders. And on a few occasions, Derek Carr just ran it virtually uncontested.
Maybe things will improve with two weeks off and the recovery that comes with it, but the Browns seem to be five to six defenders away from where they need to be to have a consistent defense.
Offensively, the Browns simply did not play well and there's an argument that Baker Mayfield was the best player on offense.
Jedrick Wills was dreadful. High pad level. Not competing to the whistle. Falling off of blocks. Mental errors with penalties. Perhaps he was simply under the weather, but he looked out of it the entire game and there were numerous plays where his lack of effort, being a step slow or not being able to execute his assignment led to plays being blown up.
Hardly the end of the world for Wills, but it's difficult to imagine he will have a worse game this season.
The Browns were able to run the ball, but there were half a dozen runs where Kareem Hunt looked like he could do some real damage if not having to forced a missed block. He still had a few really nice runs, but there were far too many that went nowhere.
Passing, Mayfield missed on a couple throws, but he was really accurate in this game, despite the conditions. The Raiders, not unlike the Cincinnati Bengals last week, struggle to consistently rush the passer and Mayfield has been great in those circumstances.
Mayfield also created more time for himself with good footwork and maneuvering the pocket, looking in control despite the elements.
None of that will end the questions surrounding Mayfield's long term viability not only because they lost but only scored six points. The game plan was good for the conditions, created some good opportunities for the offense and they didn't execute enough of them.
Nevertheless, Mayfield wasn't the problem. People may argue he wasn't the solution either, but when Mayfield was able to deliver the ball, his receivers couldn't make ley catches.
Jarvis Landry is the most notable, because he ended up dropping a ball in the end zone that would've given the Browns a lead. Mayfield threw a perfect fade and Landry couldn't catch it cleanly, then tried to re-catch it and it ultimately hit the ground. Initially ruled a touchdown, it was overturned on review.
Earlier in the game, Landry also dropped a crossing pattern that had some room to run, ending a drive. So drops by Landry ended two drives and took four points off the board in one situation.
David Njoku dropped a ball going over the middle which had room to run on a different third down situation. Harrison Bryant fumbled the ball early in the game, resulting in a turnover. Kareem Hunt dropped a pass.
Obviously the weather was a major factor and perhaps having Odell Beckham wouldn't have changed the outcome, but at the same time, the team certainly didn't look better without him. Opportunities were there, but they didn't good.
Joel Bitonio, J.C. Tretter and Jack Conklin were great. The team is certainly looking forward to the return of Wyatt Teller up front, though Chris Hubbard wasn't a liability in this game.
The Browns are eagerly anticipating the return of Nick Chubb and Austin Hooper from injury, potentially after the bye, but the bottom line remains when the same. When the Browns score points, they win. When they don't, having scored seven, seven and six in their losses, they don't.
