CLEVELAND — The Browns had their backs up against the wall on Monday evening as they lost a hard-fought game to the Las Vegas Raiders 16-14 at First Energy Stadium. Cleveland was without 19 players who were on the COVID-19/reserve list, and a few others who were out due to injury.
Quarterback Nick Mullens filled in for Baker Mayfield admirably, throwing the go-ahead touchdown pass with less than four minutes remaining -- but the Browns ultimately couldn’t close out what would have been a season-saving victory over the Raiders.
Here are three plays that defined the loss for the Browns on Monday.
Chase McLaughlin’s missed kick
The Browns struggled to find any momentum offensively throughout most of the first half, but after getting the ball back following a Las Vegas field goal with a little less than a minute left, the offense found a bit of a groove. The Browns were able to go 46 yards in 56 seconds to set up kicker Chase McLaughlin from 47 yards out, kicking into the west end of the stadium – an extremely makeable kick in today’s NFL.
McLaughlin put cleat to football on third down and sent it through the uprights, but Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia snuck in his final timeout just before Browns long snapper Charlie Hughlett sent the ball back. After a 30-second break, the Browns would line up to do it again. Only this time, McLaughlin didn’t have nearly enough power on the kick, failing to even get it to the crossbar as the game went to halftime.
There’s no telling how this would have changed the game in terms of how things were handled down the stretch, but having three extra points sure would have been nice for the Browns. If McLaughlin would have made that kick, the Browns may have opted to kick a field goal to tie the game on fourth down late in the fourth quarter instead of going for it. Furthermore, it may be time for the Browns to make a change at kicker. McLaughlin has missed six of his last 11 field goal attempts. For an offense that’s struggled to put points on the board, having a kicker that can’t be counted on is a problem that just cannot be justified.
Run on third down
After the Browns were able to score their second touchdown of the game and take a 14-13 lead late in the fourth quarter, the thinking was the Raiders were going to have one last chance to come back and win the game. In a perfect world, the Browns were going to need just one stop on defense and they would emerge victorious. On the third play of that drive, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr took a deep shot intended for wide receiver Zay Jones, but was intercepted by Browns' corner Greedy Williams.
The Browns got the ball back with 2:47 left on the clock, and Las Vegas had a pair of timeouts at its disposal. After runs on first and second down by running back Nick Chubb, the Raiders used up both of their timeouts, setting up a third down and three, with 2:31 left on the clock. A first down here would have given the Browns the ability to ice the game, or at the very least send the ball back to the Raiders with less than 20 seconds on the game clock. The Browns decided to run Chubb to the right side, where he failed to gain any ground, bringing up fourth down and the two-minute warning.
Obviously, hindsight is 20-20, but dialing up a short pass may have been the correct call here. It was something quarterback Nick Mullens had success with throughout most of the evening. It certainly would have been the more aggressive decision, but it turns out that playing too conservatively gave the Raiders the ball back with too much time.
Allowing Raiders' tight end Foster Moreau to get out of bounds
Once the Browns gave the ball back to the Raiders, Carr had more than enough time to march his team down the field, although Las Vegas was out of timeouts. The Raiders had appeared to move the ball down to the Browns' 30-yard-line with 34 seconds left to play, but the play was ultimately called back due to holding.
On the next play, Carr found tight end Foster Moreau in the right flat near Browns' defensive back Denzel Ward. Ward had the opportunity to tackle Moreau in bounds – and keep the clock running – but missed the chance. Moreau then made his way out of bounds after picking up 12 yards on the play, giving the Raiders a first down at the Browns' 45-yard-line, and stopping the clock.
If Moreau had been stopped in bounds, the clock would have likely run down at least 10 more seconds, giving the Raiders only 12 seconds remaining and no timeouts, strongly reducing their chance of winning. On the next play, Carr connected with Jones for a 15-yard gain before spiking the ball with four seconds remaining, bringing on kicker Daniel Carlson for the game-winning 48-yard field goal.