LAS VEGAS — There’s no such thing as a last call in Las Vegas, where the Cleveland Browns played for the first time on Sunday.

But it’s getting late early for the 1-3 Browns. The most expensive roster in NFL history brought back its core, plus the promise of a revamped and explosive offense. But Cleveland failed in the fourth quarter – again – and the Raiders escaped with a 20-16 win after the Browns scored the game’s first 10 points.

The Browns are struggling to score and are sinking themselves in penalties. But for the second week in a row, they found themselves in a position to steal a win after playing poorly. With 3:17 to go, they got the ball with the potential of the season on the line and a chance to escape September with at least a decent atmosphere.

However, the atmosphere is not good. Neither does the crime. And even in the middle two quarters, there was no defense that likes to call itself the best in the league, but suddenly finds it difficult to tackle. How did the Browns get that final drive inside the Raiders’ 10-yard line but fail on fourth down? What had to happen during that play?

When Kevin Stefanski was asked after the game where Deshaun Watson would have ideally gone with the ball on fourth-and-3 from the Raiders’ 9-yard line, the coach told him to go back and watch the play to give a good answer.

Stefanski mentions the plays. Either he was protecting a player (or players), or there may not be any right answers. You just can’t lose to the New York Giants and Raiders in consecutive weeks. But the Browns did that, and in a very low-scoring and very disappointing way.

“We just didn’t execute,” Watson said.

GO DEEPER

Raiders missing their stars and playing the ‘next man up’ game to a T in beating Browns

It is an accurate account of things. The offense has scored 58 points in four games. That’s 14.5 points per game. Even with the defense scoring in both road games, Cleveland has yet to reach 20 points this season. On Sunday, they lost to a Raiders team that started the game 1-2 and was without arguably its two best players, wide receiver Davante Adams and edge rusher Maxx Crosby, due to injuries.

What might be just as maddening about Watson taking the sack on the final play is that the Browns couldn’t simply hit a field goal to tie the game and try to send the game to overtime. They trailed by four because kicker Dustin Hopkins missed the point-after attempt following a Rodney McLeod fumble for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The Browns appeared sunk before McLeod’s game-changing play on a forced fumble by Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. But a potentially season-changing (or saving) drive in the final three minutes went sideways after an errant play on first down, a batted pass on second down, then Watson being sacked on fourth down on a third-down completion against Amari Cooper who appeared to settle the offense and give Cleveland a chance to convert after a timeout.

Watson probably played his best game of the season. That says a lot about the state of play, considering he only threw for 176 yards. He had a perfectly thrown ball to Cooper in the third quarter that went out of the receiver’s hands and into the air for an interception by Raiders safety Tre’von Moehrig. In the fourth quarter, Watson thought he hit Cooper with an impromptu 82-yard touchdown pass. That play was called back when backup center Nick Harris was flagged for pinning Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins while Watson bought himself time.

TIP DRILL FOR T’MO‼️#CLEvsLV | 📺 @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/8F6XR8F5EX

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 29, 2024

Cooper was an extremely reliable target for Watson and the Browns’ other quarterbacks during his first two seasons in Cleveland. He had a two-touchdown game last week, but otherwise he was somewhere between bad and inconsistent – and it’s not a stretch at all to say that his drop Sunday cost the Browns a chance to take the lead in the third quarter and maybe to take a different course. course for this day and mess of a young season.

When the locker room opened to reporters after the game, Cooper was already gone. Like Stefanski and the discussion of the last piece, there was no answer.

Before the Cooper drop and interception, the Browns had picked up two first downs to advance to the Las Vegas 49-yard line. But instead of sustaining the drive and grabbing another first down inside the Raiders’ 30, Las Vegas advanced a turnover to midfield and scored in six plays to go up 20-10. That lead felt insurmountable. And it was.

TURN US UP DJ 🔊#CLEvsLV | 📺 @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/GZIPKgHSYL

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 29, 2024

Could the Browns have stolen this game late? Absolutely, because the defense tightened up and made one big play. Cooper crossed the goal line alone and saw the holding call nullify the score. But the Browns were 3 of 10 on third down and didn’t score an offensive point in the final 45 minutes. So while they were in it late as their defense stepped up and Jerome Ford sparked the final drive by escaping traffic on a 35-yard run, the offense once again failed to deliver.

Against the Giants in Week 3, the Browns had five possessions in the fourth quarter. They scored one touchdown and punted differently, lost fumbles, turnovers on downs, turnovers on downs. On three possessions in the fourth quarter against the Raiders, they committed punts, punts and turnovers on downs after failing to even get a pass out of Watson’s hand on fourth down in the final seconds.

When veterans like Hopkins and Cooper let the Browns down like they did, they likely won’t win games unless they get big contributions from other — and less likely — corners of the roster. But even with the defensive touchdown, Cleveland just couldn’t get enough of those other contributions. The Raiders rushed for 152 yards in large part because the Browns tackled poorly, and both of the Raiders’ touchdowns came on round-type runs to wide receivers.

There’s a blueprint for how to attack the Browns’ overaggressive defense, and the tackling issues emerged for the second week in a row. For the second straight game, an opponent the Browns were favored to beat left the door open for Cleveland to redeem itself and steal a fourth-quarter victory.

Instead, the Browns have to complain not only about the missed fourth-quarter opportunities and missed PAT kick, but also about right tackle Dawand Jones’ botched assignment on a third-down play late in the second quarter, which was another Watson touchdown could have been had he had more time to throw. Despite Hopkins making a 56-yard field goal in the first quarter, Stefanski opted to punt rather than let his kicker attempt a field goal from 57 or 58 yards after that third-down miss.

The pieces just don’t connect. The options do not lead to conversions. The Browns certainly had a lot of chances, but once again gave away more than a few. This team is too experienced and talented not to score and capitalize anymore.

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In the aftermath of the Giants loss, the Browns had a rowdy week. Watson responded to criticism of one of last week’s fourth-quarter misses by telling reporters that an open tight end was a “bait” on that particular play. Cooper responded to a question about that same “who’s open?” discussion by saying that players are always under scrutiny and telling the group of gathered media: “Some of you don’t ask the best questions, but you don’t hear me criticizing. It’s just the nature of the business. We are scrutinized more than you.”

However, it wasn’t really either of these two quotes that were the most memorable. The strongest words from last week’s locker room came from safety Grant Delpit, who called this trip to Las Vegas a “must-win game,” then doubled down and reiterated that the Browns would handle the workweek the right way, before a must-win match. win situation.

They didn’t win. They failed in too many big places. The defense appears vulnerable, the offense is broken and a three-game road trip has started with a mistake-filled loss to the Raiders. If you don’t win the must-win games and beat the Giants or Raiders, how can you fix or fix that?

It’s only September, but it seems more than fair to wonder if this version of the Browns can actually bounce back.

(Photo: Steve Marcus/Getty Images)