The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Cleveland Browns vs. Las Vegas Raiders Recap

The Browns lost another must-win game against the Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland's playoff hopes are somehow not dead. Here's what happened.

The Good: The Defense

The Browns defense is finally good.

Besides a game-winning drive from Derek Carr, the Browns defense was outstanding on a night where their best player was not.

Myles Garrett was dealing with a groin injury, but he still pressured Carr into throwing a fourth quarter interception to Greedy Williams and nearly blocked the game-winning field goal kick.

Again, when you force two turnovers and keep an NFL team to just 16 points, you're supposed to win that game. The defense did their job.

The Bad: Kicking

Perhaps it was because Mike Priefer was too busy acting as the head coach all week with Kevin Stefanski on the COVID-19 list, but the special teams were the difference.

For the Raiders, Daniel Carlson was a perfect 3/3. For the Browns, Chase McLaughlin was 0/1. That was the difference in a 16-14 ballgame.

The Ugly: The Offense

The Browns offense is broken.

We've argued QB. We've argued play calling. The issue runs much deeper.

Nick Mullens was PFF's fourth highest graded quarterback this week. Nick Chubb received 23 carries for 91 yards and a score. Yet they still lost.

In the Chiefs game, Chargers game, and Raiders game, the Browns needed a first down to seal a victory and they couldn't convert. In the Steelers game, they were just a fumble away. It's an offense that candidly seems incapable of scoring more than 17 points in 2021, where scoring isn't exactly at a premium.

This isn't a QB problem. This isn't a play caller problem. This is an offensive philosophy problem.

Nobody on the Browns coaching staff plays to win—they play to not lose. Maybe the analytics say to be conservative. We will never know.

It's a maddening deep-rooted problem that will likely take the entire offseason to fix. The entire playbook needs to go in the garbage. On third down with seven yards to gain, how many times can you throw a four yard completion? What free agent wide receiver would want to be apart of that?