4 Reasons the Cleveland Browns will beat the Raiders in Week 8

3. A Dominant Pass-Rush

One reason the Browns haven’t been blitzing as much is because of the natural pressure they get from their front four. While they all have been good, this is mainly attributed to Myles Garrett who leads the NFL with 9 sacks heading into week eight of the NFL season.

Additionally, keep in mind the Raiders were without five offensive linemen last week because of COVID-19. There’s a decent chance they will have them back, but how good of shape and how rusty will they be? This could be the perfect week for the Browns to get the big number game with five or six total sacks.

It will certainly have to be a group effort. Sheldon Richardson has been dominantly collapsing the pocket and now Garrett and Olivier Vernon need to clean it up with the Raiders quarterback not nearly as mobile as the Bengals. Lastly, the team needs to find a go-to blitzer to do some damage. To this point, no one has really stood out as being able to get the job done.

There is no need to bring more than four most of the time but look for Woods to continue to try and dial-up blitzes. Remember, he is also still learning his personnel with a shortened offseason and limited live repetitions.

Garrett could end up with another 2-sack game, but I expect Vernon to make a big impact play. He has been getting better each week, and this could finally be the breakout. A strong pass-rush this week could be enough to get the Browns defense back on track.