Written by Thomas Moore

---

Fresh off their win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns head west to take on the Oakland Raiders.

The Browns are still looking for not only their first road win since Week 2 of last season, but their first winning streak since Weeks 2 and 3 of last year.

The game against Oakland is the first of a three-game stretch that includes Kansas City (currently 1-10) and Washington (5-6) against teams that are nearer the Browns in ability. If the Browns can take care of business, suddenly things look better than they did when the team started the season 0-5.

Lose during this stretch and ... well, let’s not think about that right now.

The Opposition

Oakland’s record: 3-8
Offensive rank: 15th overall/8th passing/29th rushing
Defensive rank: 25th overall/24th passing/28th rushing
All-time record: Raiders lead, 13-8, but the Browns have won seven of the past 10 meetings
Last meeting: Oakland won, 24-17, in Week 6 of last season
The line: Browns (-1)

What to Watch For

As bad as the Browns are, the Raiders represent one of those teams that Cleveland fans can point to and say, “at least we don’t root for Oakland.” Since the start of the 2003 season, the Browns have won 50 games to the Raiders 48, and have one more winning season (OK, it’s the only winning season between the two teams, but still).

The Raiders have also given up 169 points over their past four games and, on the season, have a point differential of -138 (compared to -38 for the Browns).

Oakland’s defense is a mess, especially against the run as the Raiders are giving up an average of 131 yards per game, 4.7 yards per carry and have allowed 15 rushing touchdowns. During their current four-game losing streak, the Raiders have given up 728 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.

Sounds like a good day to have Trent Richardson on your side, especially as the weather report calls for heavy rain (anywhere from four to six inches) and high winds.

“You can’t look at stats,” said Richardson, who has rushed for 407 yards and two touchdowns in his past four games. “You can’t look at any of that stuff because you never know. They could shut you down, like when we played Indy. People were talking about they were one of the last rushing defenses and they held us, to a certain extent and I didn’t get to finish that game. I don’t look at stats. I don’t ever judge a defense from the films or what they have done in the past. I just wait till I get out there and see what I can get.”

Browns offensive coordinator Brad Childress says the weather won’t affect his game plan (wait, what?).

“You really factor in trying to beat the defense that you think you’re going to see,” Childress said. “I don’t think they’ve got a typhoon defense or something like that they’re going to play in certain situations. While our special teams coach may have a typhoon return, I don’t think we have a typhoon offense.

“I don’t know (about Richardson in bad weather), we may find out. I don’t recollect seeing him in college in a monsoon situation, but we’ll find out. I suspect he’d be pretty good.”

Browns coach Pat Shurmur echoed Childress’ comments.

“You put together a game plan to attack how they play defense and the wind and rain don’t change that much,” Shurmur said. “We have enough run plays and pass plays to do what we want to do. You might have to lean more on shorter throws. You may have to lean more on the run game. Sometimes, the conditions dictate that, but you go into it being ready to play like it’s going to be 70 and sunny.”

Maybe we should just move on to the defense.

The Browns have finally started to look like a team that remembered its OK to play run defense. In last week’s win against Pittsburgh, the defense allowed just 49 rushing yards and a 2.5 yard per carry average. That continued a four-game trend that has seen the Browns hold opposing teams to less than 4.0 yards per carry, which has helped them move from 27th in the NFL to 19th against the run.

The Raiders are near the bottom of the league in rushing, averaging 82.6 yards per game, 3.7 yards per carry and only having three rushing touchdowns.

The Browns are still cautious about running back Darren McFadden, however, who has rushed for 455 yards this season and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game after missing the past three games with an ankle sprain.

“He’s a huge talent (and) extremely fast,” Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said. “He’s faster than players generally have a feel for. You’ve got to have an edge on every defense, but he can outrun your force, and still turn the corner and gain yards. You definitely don’t want to see him in the open field. They’ll use him out of the backfield to catch the ball. They’ll flank him out as a receiver. He’s a very dynamic player.”

The Browns will be facing a familiar face in quarterback Carson Palmer, who spent seven seasons in Cincinnati. Palmer is averaging 41 pass attempts per game, primarily because the Raiders have been getting pounded on a weekly basis (they have given up at least 34 points in every game of their current losing streak).

“He’s still capable,” Browns linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said of Palmer. “He’s still capable of making every throw on the field. He has a great arm. It’s a lot (that) goes into a season from a quarterback’s standpoint. A lot of his games, he’s been playing from behind, so it’s forced him to do thing that they don’t want to do. Like the Cincinnati game, they jumped out on them pretty early so they were forced to pass the ball a little bit more.  I’ve played against him for many years over in Cincinnati. He’s still willing and able to make those throws and be successful in this league.”

With two bad teams facing each other and bad weather in the forecast, the game could come down to the kickers and, as good as Sebastian Janikowski is, he’s no Phil Dawson.

“I’m just going to have to show up Sunday and figure out a plan,” Dawson said. “The forecasts are all over the place. The consistent thing I keep hearing is the word ‘torrential.’ Where I come from, that means a lot. If it’s that sloppy, you may be limited to what you can do. We’ll just have to show up and I’ll get out early like I always do and try to figure out the best shoes to wear, where to aim and all that. It may be one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of days.”

The Prediction

The Browns have to win a game on the road sometime (don’t they?), so why not make it this week? The team is coming off a tough home win against a division rival, the Raiders are a complete mess, and the Browns may finally be learning how to finish games.

“As a team, I think collectively we found a way to finish against the Steelers,” said quarterback Brandon Weeden, who will start after suffering a concussion against the Steelers. “We weren’t able to do that against Dallas, we weren’t able to do that early against Baltimore. There were times we’ve been close and we weren’t able to finish. I think when it comes crunch time late in the game (and) it’s (the) fourth quarter, just do like we did on Sunday and find a way to finish. However we do it, whether it’s pretty or ugly. There are no ugly wins.”

The Browns are also 4-0-1 against the spread vs. the Raiders since 2001, so let’s go with the Browns and lay the points.

Record picking the Browns this season: 3-7-1

(Photo by ClevelandBrowns.com)