5 Studs and Duds for the Cleveland Browns in Week 8 defeat
By Greg Newland
Cleveland Browns studs and duds from Week 8
The weather did no favors for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Throughout the game, the teams saw rain, wind, snow, and even hail. While the score was close at half, it didn’t feel like it if you were a Browns fan. Continued sloppy play by the Browns defense leaves the team at 5-3 heading into their bye week.
The Las Vegas Raiders missed a field goal and missed an easy touchdown opportunity when Henry Ruggs couldn’t keep his feet in bounds and the Browns still found themselves down 6-3 at the half. There were just too many mistakes for the Browns to have a real chance at winning. Harrison Bryant fumbled as the Browns were driving early, Jarvis Landry had a costly drop in the red zone which made the team settle for a field goal, and the defense continues to just be bad.
Cleveland had two sacks in the first half, but their gap discipline and instincts at linebacker were exposed by the Raiders running game. Don’t forget, on a scoring drive the Browns had a 3rd and 18 that turned into a 4th and one conversion because of a long screenplay. These things just can’t happen if you want to compete for a playoff spot.
The second half wasn’t much better for the Browns. Las Vegas continued to run the ball at will and costly penalties kept drives alive and allowed them to close out the game. Baker Mayfield didn’t have a great day statistically, but this loss wasn’t on him at all. The Browns receivers had multiple drops with two of them occurring on crucial third down plays.
A facemask on a third-down stop that turned into a first down, David Njoku’s drop on third down, and the inability to stop the run were just too much to overcome.
The Browns are still in a good spot heading into the bye, but this is one that would have been great to get. Now with a 5-3 record, let’s check in on the duds and studs from an ugly game at home vs. the Las Vegas Raiders.