CLEVELAND -- The ones that got away came back to haunt the Cleveland Browns Sunday.
The Oakland Raiders turned miscues into opportunities, scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and added another three in overtime to seal the 45-42 come-from-behind victory over the Browns at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in Oakland on Sunday afternoon.
“Obviously, turnovers were the difference, in my opinion, in the game,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “There was a 14-point swing there in the second half where they scored each time we turned it over, and you look at the score, and that’s the difference.
“Can’t turn the ball over. That’s kind of uncharacteristic of what we’ve done on offense, so it bit us in the butt. That was disappointing. We’ve got to make more plays. Obviously, we can’t have those things get us, but obviously, we had our chances to win. Hats off to the Raiders. They won the game.”
Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield lost a pair of fumbles and threw two interceptions in his first NFL start.
Mayfield’s first three turnovers, the fumbles and one interception, resulted in touchdowns for the Raiders, while the fourth one brought to an end the fourth quarter and forced overtime, where Oakland kicker Matt connected on a 29-yard field goal with 1:46 to play in the extra session to seal the victory.
“When you make that many mistakes though, it’s not going to happen,” Mayfield said. “It’s all the little things, from being fundamental in our routes to me delivering the ball in the right places on time.
“Yeah, they scored enough points to win, but we gave them the opportunity to do so. We turned the ball over too many times, gave them a chance, and in this league, when you turn the ball over like we did, like I did, you’re not going to win those games. We saw the end result of that.”
On the second drive of the game, the Browns faced a second-and-eight from their own 25-yard line, Mayfield fired a short throw to the left side of the field for rookie wide receiver Antonio Callaway, but the first-year pass catcher slipped while coming out of his break and the Raiders corralled the turnover.
After catching the deflection off of Callaway’s hands, Raiders cornerback Gareon Conley, a native of Massillon, Ohio, and one-time Ohio State Buckeyes standout, raced down the sideline and leapt his way across the goal line for a touchdown.
The Raiders tacked on the extra point and took a 7-0 lead over the Browns with 10:01 to play in the first quarter.
Then, late in the game, Mayfield and the Browns faced a first-and-10 from Oakland’s 49-yard line and decided to take a chance deep down the field. However, Mayfield and Callaway were unable to connect on the pass, and Raiders defensive back Reggie Nelson corralled the interception.
“I feel bad for our defense,” Mayfield said. “We gave the Raiders a chance to be on offense too many times. When you give an offense like that, with some of the players they have, that many chances, it’s not going to turn out well for you.”
Stream Live with fuboTV -Try Free Trial
