The Cleveland Browns lost to the Las Vegas Raiders and there are many reasons that it happened. No excuses, just reasons. The obvious ones are around all the players missing on the reserve/COVID-19 list and Chase McLaughlin’s field goal. There were five specific plays that each could have decided the game, including McLaughlin’s failure, but there is an overarching problem as well.
The Browns were cautious and it killed their chances of winning. In multiple situations, the team took the safer approach instead of being aggressive and taking the win.
After Greedy Williams picked off Derek Carr’s pass, the cornerback seemed to think the game was over right there and didn’t fight for a big return.
When getting the ball back on the Williams interception, the offense did exactly what Las Vegas thought they would, running the ball three times. A simple bootleg run by Nick Mullens, a screen to a back or tight end or a simple slant to Donovan Peoples-Jones on second down could have gotten them the first down they needed.
When the Raiders got the ball back, Cleveland’s secondary played off and allowed easy completions despite Carr struggling with the deep ball all game. While limitations at the corner position were obvious, allowing easy pitch and catch for 10+ yards made Las Vegas’ job quite easy.
Finally, a play covered in the five plays piece from last night, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Denzel Ward played it safe when Foster Moreau caught this pass:
Carr to Moreau for 12-yds#Raiders 13 #Browns 14 Q3 pic.twitter.com/hI0JnGlKn0
— Sports 24/7 (@Sports24x7_) December 21, 2021
Perhaps the rookie was worried about knocking him out of bounds. Perhaps Ward thought the linebacker was going to take him out. Perhaps either were worried about some kind of nonsense flag for late hit or unnecessary roughness.
Perhaps, caution killed the Browns chance late in the game in Week 15 and may have killed their chances this seaosn.
