The Cleveland Browns dropped a tough overtime contest on the road to the Oakland Raiders, but what can we take away from the close loss?
So much hype surrounded the Cleveland Browns entering their Week 4 matchup on the road against the Oakland Raiders. They were coming off of their first win in 635 days the previous week, but were also ready to start a new era with Baker Mayfield at the helm as the rookie made his first career start.
Unfortunately for the Browns, things did not play out in a storybook manner. Mayfield had four turnovers on the day and, though that didn’t stop the offense from scoring exceptionally often in this game, the defense struggled late in the game as the Raiders came back from 17-7 down in the first half. Ultimately, they forced overtime with a late score and picked up the 45-42 win in the extra frame.
With the loss, Cleveland now moves to 1-2-1 on the season. While they aren’t winless (an undeniable step in the right direction), that record has to be somewhat bitter for Browns fans to see at this point. Had certain things been done differently or balls bounced different ways or the refs not made some questionable calls in Week 4, this team could be 4-0 at this point in the season.
Regardless, this Browns team is far from dead after four weeks in the season, which is again a positive trend for this team. Having said that, this is still a tough loss to swallow as, to many, the Browns were the better team on Sunday in Oakland.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the big takeaways for the Cleveland Browns from their loss in Week 4.