3 bold predictions: Browns can exploit one major weakness against Raiders

After losing to the Giants in Week 3, the Cleveland Browns are ready to turn the page. As they saw after losing to Dallas in Week 1, their Week 2 win silenced a lot of the criticism they were hearing.

The same can happen this week and they have a decent shot of finding success.

Cleveland will be taking on the 1-2 Las Vegas Raiders, who just lost to Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers. They can't look past this team but if they stay focused and make good on these bold predictions, they could find a way to improve to 2-2.

3. Raiders gain fewer than 75 yards on the ground

Vegas entered the season without a great plan at running back. They lost Josh Jacobs, who signed a massive deal with the Green Bay Packers but didn't do much to replace him. Instead, they decided to lean on Zamir White who has 102 yards on 32 attempts in three games. That's an average of 3.2 per attempt.

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As bad as that sounds, he's still outperforming everyone else on this roster. That's why this first bold prediction is that Cleveland holds them to fewer than 75 yards on the ground, which will set the tone for the game.

2. Amari Cooper has another excellent outing

Amari Cooper finally had a breakout this past weekend. He shrugged off his slow start to haul in a 24-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. He added another score late in the game when he caught a six-yarder. In all, Cooper had 86 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches.

He now faces the first franchise he ever played for, and they're not good against the pass. Las Vegas has surrendered 678 yards and five touchdowns in the first three games through the air. Look for Cooper to hit 100 for the first time this season and cross the goal line.

1. Browns run for 150 yards, 2 TDs on the ground

Cleveland is facing a team that's struggled on the ground, which is, unfortunately, something they're all too familiar with. The Browns are 24th in the NFL in rushing yards with 287 but they're still better than Vegas who is 29th with 153 yards. They even have a better average of 4.3 per attempt compared to just 2.8 for the Raiders, which is last in the NFL.

More importantly, Las Vegas has been awful at stopping the run. They're 29th in the league with 458 yards on the ground against them while giving up 5.4 per rush — second to last in the rankings.

That's a recipe for Cleveland to get the run game on track which is what this final bold prediction calls for. With Jerome Ford and D'Onta Foreman both getting in the action — as well as quarterback Deshaun Watson — Cleveland should be able to exploit this major weakness to the tune of 150 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

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