LAS VEGAS—You can certainly tell it is a winter of discontent for the Las Vegas Raiders, as the boo birds have definitely migrated to Allegiant Stadium.
On Sunday, the Raiders’ current losing streak hit five games when they fell to the Cleveland Browns 24-10 at Allegiant Stadium.
Much of the fanbase’s chagrin was directed towards the offense, which has completely unraveled in recent weeks. Despite running 75 plays, they could not find the end zone until their final offensive drive when the game was decided. It was an inefficient performance, with the Raiders going four-of-17 on third down and completing one of three fourth down attempts.
Here is why Raiders fans have at least some valid reasons to feel as upset as they do.
Completely overwhelmed
A shorthanded offensive line was expected to struggle against a Browns defense that was performing quietly well, but not to the degree that they did.
Before the first half was even finished, Geno Smith had already been sacked five times, with the jeers getting louder after each one. By the time it was mercifully over, Smith had gone down 10 times. With the season looking close to its end, it would not be surprised to see the Raiders turn to third-round rookies Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant just to give the offensive line a new look, as well as see just how much of an overhaul the unit required.
Missed opportunities
What made the matter worse for the Raiders was that they had their chances, but could never capitalized.
Charles Snowden’s first career interception on Shedeur Sanders led to nothing but a Daniel Carlson field goal. Jeremy Chinn doing his best Peanut Tillman impression and punching the ball out of Jerry Jeudy’s hands lead to a stalled drive. On a day where the Raiders defense did an overall decent job at keeping the opposition at bay, the offense ultimately destroyed any momentum the team got.
The grade on Sanders
The Browns could not have made things any easier for Sanders in his first start, but he still made some impressive throws.
Outside of the interception on an ill-fated pass into triple coverage, Sanders was relatively mistake-free. He completed 11 of his 20 passes for 209 yards, staying efficient while finding the likes of Jeudy, Isaiah Bond and Dylan Sampson for deep shots down the field. The performance definitely added a little more egg on the face of the Raiders, even if the outcome was more due to their own errors.
