Cleveland Browns vs. Raiders recap: 16 years later, Chucky gets his call

On a cold January night in 2002, the Oakland Raiders had victory snatched out of their hands by the now infamous tuck rule. Nearly 17 years later, the officials gave Jon Gruden a solid.

The Cleveland Browns did not play a perfect game, far from it. There were turnovers. Punt coverage that took the “special” out of the words special teams. And some coverage issues that should merit some questions at Gregg Williams defense.

But none of that should have mattered, because the Cleveland Browns had their week 4 game against the Raiders won. And I don’t mean won in a theoretical sense. I mean won.

Teams practice this. You need one first down to win the game. The Browns ran the ball to force the Raiders to use their timeouts. Carlos Hyde had pushed his way across the line to gain.

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Not by much, but it was clear to the announcers, Dean Blandino the rules expert watching the game, and probably 99 percent of the viewing audience that the ball was clearly past the first down marker.

The Browns had just run for a first down. All that it took was three kneel downs and the Browns would have won two games in a row.

But upon further review…

The referees decided to review the call on the field of first down. Somehow they reversed the call. Now granted, unlike the tuck rule they didn’t have to reach far back into the NFL rulebook, they just simply said with a straight face that the ball was not across the line to gain when his elbow hit. Because of the call, the Browns faced with a fourth-and-inches and less than two minutes on the clock made the prudent decision to punt the ball.

But like an Adam Vinatieri field goal knifing through a frigid New England night, Derek Carr threw a few daggers of his own and just like that the game was tied.

For fans that remember the “tuck rule” game, the game went into overtime. The Raiders, as fans say, had their chances. Some of those same pearls of wisdom are being hurled at Browns fans who refuse to accept that the game was won. It was over.

Until the officials did something that earlier in the game they didn’t do. Reverse a spot call. And the call that they let stand earlier the game (a catch by Jarvis Landry) was far more disputable (and in fact, I think they might have gotten that call wrong too).

The Cleveland Browns had multiple opportunities to win, and even with a win, they would have some questions to answer. But in the meantime, they have a 1-2-1 record and it just feels wrong. If the NFL thinks they have a problem defining roughing the quarterback, they will have a far bigger problem if fans begin to believe the games are rigged.

After today, it’s hard not to think otherwise. The Browns won. Except they didn’t. But Jon Gruden got a season-saving win and maybe, more importantly, the universe has come full circle.

The Cleveland Browns were the perfect foil to right the wrong of the tuck rule.

Bravo NFL, bravo!