LAS VEGAS – The Browns headed to Vegas betting on a draw after their heartbreaking loss to the Giants last week.

Instead, they lost 20-16 and fell to 1-3 in what should have been a second straight playoff season.

The Raiders were without their best offensive player in six-time Pro Bowler Davante Adams, and their best defensive player in premier edge rusher Maxx Crosby. It was definitely a chance for the Browns to beat a supposedly inferior team and even improve their record 2-2.

Instead, they wonder what will happen to them as they make the long trek home along with tens of thousands of disappointed Browns fans.

After jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter, the Browns allowed the Raiders to score 20 straight points, including a touchdown after a ball went out of Amari Cooper’s hands and was picked off. The Raiders turned it into a TD to make it 20-10.

The Browns climbed back into the game, 20-16, on Rodney McLeod’s fumble recovery for a touchdown, but that was followed by a missed extra point by Dustin Hopkins.

Cooper’s 82-yard TD catch and run would have been redemption for the interception, but it was wiped out by a holding call against center Nick Harris. Cooper was one of the first players to leave the field after the defeat.

The Browns had a few late chances, including a fourth-and-3 from the Raiders 9 with a chance to win it with 41 seconds left. But Watson was sacked for a loss of ten yards. It was a fitting end to a match in which he was once again not adequately protected.

The Browns were once again challenged on the offensive line, with James Hudson III at left tackle, rookie Zak Zinter at right guard and an ailing Dawand Jones at right tackle. They lost center Ethan Pocic to an ankle injury, and Harris replaced him. The makeshift line was no match for the lightning-fast defense and stout defensive tackle of Christian Wilkins.

Watson (24 of 32, 176 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 84.9 rating) was again hit mercilessly, including once by Wilkins after Harris pulled the hold in an attempt to stop him. At one point he was seen chastising Jones on the field after a missed assignment, and later comforting him on the bench.

But in this game the defense was largely to blame, with an inability to tackle or cover. The Raiders, who came into the game last in the NFL, ran over and through the Browns all game and the Raiders embarrassed them.

“Not for lack of effort, but man, we’ve got to capitalize on some opportunities there, and we didn’t do that,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said.

“We just have to focus on getting better. These games always come down to a few plays. We have to do the things that win games – protect the football, tackle… we have to get back to basics to come out with a win.”

The ball goes out of Amari Cooper’s hands for a pick; Cashing in on robbers

Watson fired a perfect ball over deep center that hit Cooper in the numbers, and the ball jumped out of his hands and was picked off by Tre’von Moehring, who returned it 17 yards to the Raiders’ 48. Cooper lay face down on the field moments later with his head in his hands.

A fired-up Raiders team cashed in with an 18-yard touchdown run by Jakobi Meyers, who broke through three tackle attempts on the way down the left side to the end zone, by Grant Delpit, Ronnie Hickman and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramah. for a 20-10 Raiders command with 5:23 left in the third quarter.

Cooper’s 82-yard touchdown was negated

At first, the long TD play seemed like the ultimate redemption for Cooper. He caught a pass to the right from Watson and looked 82 yards to the house. It seemingly made up for the ball going out of his hands in the third quarter, jumping into the air and being picked up by the Raiders and eventually converted into a TD.

But Cooper’s long touchdown was negated by a holding call against Harris, and the Browns scored from their 26 four plays later.

Rodney McLeod scores on a fumble

Safety Rodney McLeod got the Browns back in the game after the Raiders converted Watson’s deflected pick with 14:50 left in the game. McLeod picked up a fumble forced by Isaiah Thomas when he ran running back Zamir White for a three-yard loss and separated him from the ball.

Dalvin Tomlinson and Jeremiah Owusu Koramoah failed to corral the ball, but McLeod came in for the 25-yard scoop-and-score to make it 20-16 with 14:50 remaining. It was his fourth career touchdown.

The problem is that the confident Hopkins missed the extra point, his first of the season after going 4 for 4. Last season he scored 24 of 26 on extra points.