CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – In the blink of three yards and then three seconds, the Browns teetered on the edge of celebrating the jubilation of victory only to suffer the agony of defeat.
Down 22 players and three coaches due to a COVID-19 outbreak, the Browns gave the Raiders everything they had Monday night, but when the clock hit 00:00 on the scoreboard, the football sailed through the uprights and shortly after it read: Raiders 16, Browns 14.
And just like that, Cleveland fell from the precipice of first place to the basement of the AFC North and with a mountain to climb over the final three weeks of the season to get back to the playoffs.
Here are our Top Takeaways from a colossal kick to the gut and heartbreaking loss.
1. Joe Bitonio has seen it all with the Browns. Monday night he played left tackle for the first time in his NFL career because the Browns had no one else. And he left FirstEnergy Stadium with another loss. This one more painful than the dozens that have preceded it. "It hurt a lot," Bitonio said. "What we had to go through during the week and the guys who stepped up and put it all on the line, we were playing away. It did hurt. I have been a part of a few losses that have hurt, but that is definitely up there."
2. "Yeah, that locker room right now is hurting," acting head coach and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said. "That is the most I have seen it in that kind of pain. You are upset when you lose. Obviously, you are joyous when you win. When you lose that type of game, that one is tough.
They are pretty down right now."
3. Three stinking yards. That's all the Browns needed on third down with 2:31 on the clock. A first down and game over. First place here we come. Instead, their workhorse Nick Chubb couldn't find enough room to churn them out and the game was put in the hands of the depleted defense. "In the NFL, you have to finish teams like that," Chubb said. "The ball was in my hands, but it was not enough. That is something that we cannot do anything about it now, but in the future, I have to make a play, we have to make a play or something." The moment Dustin Colquitt punted the ball away, it felt like the game had just slipped away.
4. Chubb, as expected, carried the load 23 times for 91 yards. His third quarter 24-yard burst to the 6 shot life into the offense. He punched it in from 4 yards out on third down, moments after the back half of tight end David Njoku's left foot landed out of bounds erasing a touchdown, to cut Las Vegas' lead to 10-7 but Chubb couldn't stop thinking about that third down carry. "We fought hard," Chubb said. "It was not enough in the end, but our guys, we did fight. It was tough compared to the situation that we were in. But it is what it is. I think a lot of guys stepped up that needed to step up. At the end of the day, we have to finish, and we were not able to."
5. Daniel Carlson kicked the Browns into last place with a 48-yard field goal as time expired to provide the difference on the scoreboard but it's hard not to think about Chase McLaughlin shanking a 47-yard try at the end of the first half after the Raiders called timeout before his first kick, which was successful. He was short and wide right. McLaughlin has become a liability having missed five kicks in his last seven games. He's 4 of 9 since starting the season 9-9. "You have to make those kicks," Priefer said. "The expectation is to make those type of kicks in that game, and he should have made it."
6. Nick Mullens, on the practice squad since September was elevated in a pinch late last week and was up to the task. Mullens finished 20 of 30 for 147 yards and a touchdown in the loss. His poise after Chubb had an 11-yard touchdown run waived off due to a holding penalty on right guard Wyatt Teller was impressive. Mullens regrouped and found Harrison Bryant on fourth down for a 6-yard score with 3:45 remaining in the game to give the Browns their first and only lead of the night. "It hurts," Mullens said of the defeat.
"Everybody is going to look at that one [play for each] player and just not being able to finish it. With the NFL, games are a chain-links of events. I think we had a lot of three-and-outs and just missed opportunities. You can't really pinpoint one reason why we lost."
7. Bless Mullens' optimism, youth and inexperience with Browns football. "It was so cool and the stadium was rocking," Mullens said. "I really believed in the fourth quarter that this night was destined for Cleveland, but sometimes it does not work out like that." Monday night ended exactly how they usually do for the Browns, in bitter heartbreak. He got lesson No. 1.
8. Derek Carr will get credit for rallying the Raiders on the final drive, especially considering a holding penalty appeared to doom the drive but shoddy angles and tackling by the Browns defense allowed Carr to move Las Vegas into position to win in the blink of an eye and just in time. Carr's 5-yard touchdown to Bryan Edwards, a fade over Pro Bowler Denzel Ward, gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead with 3:41 remaining in the opening quarter and capped an 11-play, 58-yard drive. Carr went 8-8 for 77 yards on the drive before finishing the night 25 of 38 for 236 yards with a touchdown and interception.
9. The defining play of that last defensive series came with 29 seconds left when Raiders tight end Foster Moreau caught a pass and went out of bounds after 12 yards. Five of those came as he slithered through three Brows defenders – Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Denzel Ward and Jovante Moffatt – who failed to grab him and keep him in the field of play. Instead, he waltzed by them and stopped the clock. It was a physical and mental breakdown in a key spot that can't happen.
10. Sure the defense collapsed in the final minute, but there were some bright spots.
11. Sheldon Day and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah meet at Derek Carr with just under 8 minutes left in the third quarter. The ball popped loose. Porter Gustin recovered the fumble to give the Browns the ball at the Las Vegas 47. Carr down for a few mins, players knelt around him. He walked off with trainers. Six plays later, Chubb got the browns on the board.
12. Carr went at Greedy Williams quite a bit Monday night and Williams made him pay for it late. Williams fielded a deep ball from Carr for his second interception of the season to give the offense a chance to put the game on ice. They didn't and the defense couldn't hold.
13. Donovan Peoples-Jones inability to haul in a deep ball on the near sideline on Cleveland's second possession was a back breaker early in the first half. It would've put the Browns in the red zone but Raiders cornerback Ryan Facyson helped separate Peoples-Jones from the ball on a play that had to be made in a game where there was little margin for error. To Peoples-Jones credit, he bounced back to make four catches for 48 yards, including a 24 yarder that led to a touchdown.
14. With just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter defensive end Takkarist McKinley suffered what appeared to be a serious left ankle injury.
He was tended to for a few minutes before being helped onto a cart and driven off. McKinley was in obvious pain, and he had his head in his hands while he was driven to the tunnel. He'll undergo an MRI but early reports are that he suffered a torn Achilles.
15. The cold hard math is this: the Browns have to win their final three games – at 11-3 Green Bay Saturday, at Pittsburgh in Week 17 and against the Bengals January 9. One loss and they're done. Three wins and they may still need help. That's the mountain they have to climb and they have themselves to blame.
