Cleveland Browns: 5 most winnable games in 2018
By Ryan Rosko
Week 4 at the Oakland Raiders
The NFL is nowhere close to how it was played like it was back in 2000. Even though that is the case, that won’t stop Jon Gruden in his second tenure as Oakland’s head coach from trying to repeat that.
Without Derek Carr, they are not going to win much. With him, that may be the case too as the rest of the roster has a historical feel to it. Who knows how much Marshawn Lynch has in the tank. Martavis Bryant is not reliable, Jordy Nelson is past his prime, Amari Cooper needs to rebound from last season, and their defense outside of Khalil Mack needs to step up.
That all said, there is no reason why the Browns should not come away with a win. Who is going to guard all of Cleveland’s weapons in the passing game? If they lock in on one player, there will be at least two other options open regularly.
Speaking of the passing game, Oakland is doing Carr no favors, which is great for Cleveland. The Browns secondary top to bottom is clear and away the more impressive group when comparing them to Oakland’s receivers.
What are they going to do when Cleveland takes away Cooper, Nelson shows his age and their other options don’t show up? They will try to run with Lynch. However, he will run into Garrett, Ogbah, Christian Kirksey, and the rest of the front seven when that happens. Then what? Oakland punts a lot, that is what happens, leading to a road win for Cleveland.