Another aching loss

Some losses in the National Football League are tougher to take than others. Like the ones that flirt with the boundaries of agony. The Browns' bitter-pill 16-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders Monday night on Daniel Carlson's third field goal of the game at the gun is an exquisite example of such a loss.

Within that loss lies an aphorism that adequately describes why this one wound up in the wrong column and knocked them all the way down to the cellar of the AFC North whereas a victory, which was well within reach, would have elevated them to the top of the division with three games left in the regular season.

This kind of stunning setback, which fans have grown accustomed to for the better part of the last two decades because the Browns always seem to find a way, does not eliminate them from a post-season invitation, but is severely limits their opportunities. It basically will take a sweep of the final three games to make the postseason a reality.

It has been said -- and proven -- many times that a prevent defense is a deadly recipe that almost always prevents a team from winning, this time spoiling a dramatic comeback led by a third-string quarterback who needed a whole half to right a sputtering offense. What does a prevent defense do? Rhetorical question.

The Browns owned a 14-13 lead and the football after Greedy Williams picked off a Derek Carr pass with 2:47 left in regulation and the Raiders with three timeouts left, including the two-minute warning. This game was eminently winnable.

All they needed was a first down from an offense that had awakened after sleep-walking through the first 30 minutes and taken their first lead of the evening when quarterback Nick Mullens connected with tight end Harrison Bryant on a six-yard scoring toss after a Wyatt Teller holding penalty wiped out what would have been Nick Chubb's second touchdown of the game four plays earlier.

Instead, they put up their fifth three-and-out of the game (a prevent offense?) with the usually reliable Chubb gouging out only eight yards in three attempts to the disappointment of the crowd at this rescheduled game from Saturday. It took only 57 seconds off the clock, but exhausted the Raiders' timeouts. 

The delicious irony here is the offense at that point basically turned the game over to the defense, which had limited the Raiders to just two Carlson field goals after surrendering a touchdown on their first possession of the game. They did so by keeping the Raiders between the 30s with a variety of coverages by a secondary riddled by COVID,

And that's when the Browns, in all their wisdom, went to the old football standby, the prevent defense. Sounds a little like an oxymoron. With the Raiders operating sans timeouts, the Cleveland defense went zone,  or cover 4 in today's parlance, pretty much tossing out the welcome mat for Carr to come on down. They took what was working earlier and trashed it.

Beginning at his 27 with 110 seconds left, Carr plumbed the underneath routes with regularity, dialing up various-sized chunk plays along the way. The defense obliged with the deadly -- for the Browns --  combination of soft coverage and sloppy tackling.

At one point, Raiders tight end Foster Moreau caught a short pass along the sideline and picked up 10 extra yards as defenders whiffed. The aggression that had bolstered the defense earlier disappeared. 

At one point, it appeared the Browns caught a break when a holding penalty on Raiders tackle Kolton Miller wiped out a 17-yard gain and stunted the drive with about a half minute left and the ball at the Las Vegas 43.

So where all this time was the Cleveland pass rush, which had been getting just occasional pressure on Carr throughout the game? Yep, you guessed it. Gassed. That's why the Raiders were at the Cleveland 30 two completed passes and 27 yards later, well within Carlson's range.

Browns acting head coach Mike Priefer called a timeout a split second before Carlson launched his first attempt, a 48-yarder that was good. Interim Raiders head coach Rich Bisaccia did the same thing on the final play play of the first half with Browns kicker Chase McLaughlin and it worked. McLaughlin made a 47-yarder a split second after the timeout was called, but was wide right on the real one.

Carlson was dead center on the one that counted, 

It ruined a strong second-half comeback by a Cleveland offense that meekly rang up 14 plays, 52 total yards, 15 yards on the ground, 10:42 of ball ownership and four Dustin Colquitt punts on the first four possessions of the game. 

It was on the fifth possession that Mullens, victimized at least three times by dropped passes, and the offense showed signs of life, reaching Raiders territory for the first time in the game with about half a minute left in the first half. 

It sprung to life after Myles Garrett and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah combined on a strip sack of Carr midway through the third quarter just inside Raiders territory. Chubb, who looked more like the old Chubb with a 77-yard second half, skirted left end from four yards out six plays later for the touchdown behind center JC Tretter and Joel Bitonio, who moved to left tackle, his old college position, for this game.

Two possessions later, a Mullens-Bryant scoring connection from six yards on fourth down climaxed a 14-play, 80-yard drive that took 8:22 off the clock and gave the Browns their first lead of the game with 3:45 left. Chubb ground out 34 yards on seven carries and Donovan Peoples-Jones, who dropped a pair of very catchable passes in the first half, contributed with 36 yards on two receptions.

It sure looked like this one would wind up putting the Browns atop the AFC North, especially after Williams picked off Carr 45 seconds later. But with Browns fans, there is nothing certain until the final gun goes off and the scoreboard shows the Browns scored more points than the opposition.

They proved that again Monday night in agonizing fashion.