Cleveland Browns: 3 takeaways from Week 8 loss to Las Vegas Raiders

3 takeaways from Cleveland Browns Week 8 loss

The Cleveland Browns will head into their bye week with a record of 5-3 following a 16-6 loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 8. It was an ugly loss for the Browns, but it was also the team’s first defeat this season that was not a blowout — see the 38-6 loss to Baltimore in Week 1 and 38-7 loss to Pittsburgh in Week 6 as examples. Back to this Sunday, the Browns were the more talented team on paper, and should have won that game, but awful officiating and self-inflicted mistakes prevented that from happening.

On the surface, the final score would seem to indicate that the defense did its job and that the offense failed to show up, especially when considering the Raiders’ solid offense and poor defense. But the tape tells a much different story, one that is heavily influenced by the cold, windy, and rainy Cleveland conditions.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons that the Browns lost, but they must not be allowed to turn into excuses. Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski has two weeks to get his team back on track and prepared for the Houston Texans. It seemed like everyone except quarterback Baker Mayfield came out flat, and that’s simply unacceptable for a game that could easily have playoff implications late in the season.

Here are three takeaways from the Week 8 loss as the team moves into the second half of the 2020 campaign.