CLEVELAND -- Many things go into creating a true home-field advantage in the National Football League, but nothing is more important that giving fans a reason to cheer on their team.
The Cleveland Browns know that well, especially after the majority of the 67,431 fans in attendance at FirstEnergy Stadium for last Thursday’s 21-17 victory over the New York Jets spent the entire fourth quarter standing and cheering on the comeback win.
After getting their first regular-season win since December 24, 2016, the Browns are out on the road and will play in another very passionate environment, as they will take on the Oakland Raiders at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
“It is the fans,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said of what makes Oakland special. “We have the greatest fans in the world, but I would tell you that is the second-best group. They are unbelievable.
“They are going to be there early before the game. They are going to not want us to come in the stadium. They are going to try to make sure we don’t come in the stadium. They are going to mess with us when we are inside the stadium, and they will mess with us when we leave the stadium. That is just what it is. That is an unbelievable venue.”
Jackson knows the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum well, as he was Oakland’s offensive coordinator in 2010, and then, served as the head coach of the Raiders for the 2011 season.
Home field advantage comes in many forms in the National Football League, and in Oakland, California, the Raiders “enjoy” a unique one.
Because the Raiders share the stadium with the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball, the infield dirt stretches across the middle of the playing surface and from the 15-yard line on either side of the field through the month of October.
“I know everyone talks about the stadium,” Jackson said. “I know I enjoyed being in that stadium, and I have been on both sides of it. It is a unique place, different.
“For us, our team, I think understanding the field will be important. The crowd will be the crowd. I think that will take care of itself. If we play well, the crowd will be very quiet. If we don’t, then the crowd will get going, so we can control that by how we play.”
Having been on both sides of a game in Oakland, Jackson knows well how deeply the fans care about the Raiders, which is why he is conflicted about the impending move to Las Vegas, where a new stadium being built near “The Strip” is scheduled to be ready for the 2020 season.
“It will be (difficult),” Jackson said. “That is all I have ever known. I remember when they were in L.A., and I was one of those guys that wore the yellow jacket CSC security that used to protect them as a young guy. I remember those days, and I remember since they have been in Oakland.
“What they have been and what they meant even to L.A., because L.A. was disappointed that they were gone, I am sure the City of Oakland will feel the same way when they leave and go to Vegas because that is tough. That is their team, and they really root for the Raiders. They made a decision that I think they needed to make in order for them to move forward, and they have to do what they have to do.”
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