Oakland Raiders at Cleveland Browns 2nd half thread

The Raiders had the ball to open the game against the Cleveland Browns with a flourish, but not all of it was good. Darren McFadden had a couple of nice powerful runs along with a couple of nice passes from Derek Carr to start the drive. Then a failed wildcat pass from DMC stalled the Raiders rhythm and a failed fake punt attempt resulted in a Matt Schaub interception that was returned into Raiders territory.

The Browns didn't do much against solid play from the Raiders defense though so they settled for a field goal. Brandian Ross had a nice play in coverage in his first game starting this season, he is replacing Usama Young who was lost for the season. The 52 yard field goal made the score 3-0 Browns.

The Raiders got one first down that came on a nice pass from Derek Carr on 3rd down but the birthday boy Marquette King came out shortly after for his first punt of the day. Cleveland got the bulk of yardage on their next drive on one play, a 49 yard catch and run through traffic. They still had to settle for a field goal again to make it 6-0 anyway because of the Raiders tough play on defense outside of the one long play.

This would have been a good time for the Raiders to respond, but they went the opposite route. An ugly 3 and out and the Raiders were punting again. Cleveland tried to go deep right away but Charles Woodson was right there and almost got another interception for his hall of fame resume. Then on 3rd and 3 Woodson made the play again by stopping the receiver short with a punishing tackle.

The Raiders again failed to reward their defensive effort. This time they even had a decent rhythm going but it was all for nothing when they couldn't convert a 3rd and inches at midfield. Then despite being 0-6 they still punted again playing the field position battle.

That decision backfired pretty much immediately as the Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer got hot and started completing whatever he wanted. He went 4-4 and had a 15 yard penalty on Brandian Ross for hitting a defenseless receiver to get into 1st and goal. Then a failed run, a QB pressure from Justin "Jelly" Ellis and a short pass kept the Browns out of the end zone. They converted another field goal to make the score 9-0.

Despite less than stellar play by the Raiders offense they are still in the game. This time they finally responded! A little  anyway. Mychal Rivera made a beautiful one handed catch which was the nicest play on the 9 play, 53 yard drive that ended in a field goal. Sebastian Janikowski made the 45 yard kick look easy and the score after that was 9-3.

The Browns got the ball with just under two minutes to go in the half after that. Carlos Rogers almost had a pick 6 but just missed it on 1st down, but those are the plays that the Raiders just miss instead of just get. They still manage to force a quick punt to get the ball back with just over a minute to go.

They started the drive with a 31 yard pass to Andre Holmes, followed by a 15 yard pass to Kendrell Thompkins to get them in field goal range. Jano kicked it through as time expired making the score 9-6 at halftime, Browns advantage.