'We're not doing enough to get the W': Browns offense again comes up small in big moments

LAS VEGAS — There were two moments in Sunday's 20-16 Browns loss to the Las Vegas Raiders that accurately summarize the place the Cleveland offense currently finds itself.

The first involved an in-the-heat-of-the-moment exasperation involving quarterback Deshaun Watson toward his right tackle, Dawand Jones. The second involved the game-ending play on which Watson found himself once again not seeing or not throwing to an open Jordan Akins on a critical fourth down.

The two plays bookended a day when the Browns once again seemed to be their own worst enemy on offense, turning promise into disappointment. More important, it's turned a chance to get off to a fast start, both in the game and on the season, into an early disaster.

The offense yet another shot itself in the foot as it failed to even get out of the mid teens in scoring. That's left the Browns staring at a 1-3 start, the worst of the Kevin Stefanski era, heading into next week's road game at the suddenly surging Washington Commanders.

"We're not doing enough," Watson said after completing 24 of 32 passes for 176 yards with one touchdown and one interception against the Raiders. "So it starts with me. If I'm going to be the quarterback of this offense, we’ve all got to be all the way locked in, and right now we're not doing enough to get the W. So you can put it on me for sure."

Watson started the game by completing his first nine passes — which extended to be 14 of his first 15 — while helping the Browns get out to an early 10-0 lead. However, the final incompletion of the first half, on his 17th pass, was when some cracks started to show.

Wide receiver Amari Cooper was open streaking down the seam on a third-and-10 play from the Raiders 41. However, Watson's pass didn't come close to Cooper, because the quarterback had been hit by Las Vegas' Tyree Wilson as he tried to throw the ball.

"I was supposed to push out," Jones said. "Just didn't see the count. I didn't, just got to lock in a little bit better on the play count.

Wilson had come off the right side of the Browns line, badly beating Jones. After Watson got up, television cameras caught him going up to Jones before they left the field, yelling at the big tackle.

Those same cameras, though, also caught the on-the-bench aftermath. They showed Watson walking over behind Jones and talking into his ear, with Jones — who later said he was "more mad at myself" — nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, it was just trying to be great," Watson said. "That's it. We all just got to get on the same page so we can execute and try to win and be explosive. So that was it."

The misfire, though, was emblematic of an offense that was never consistently on the same page after the first quarter. The Browns perfectly executed a 15-play, 70-yard opening drive that ended with Watson hitting reserve tight end Blake Whiteheart for a 3-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead, followed by a second drive that ended with Dustin Hopkins kicking a 56-yard field goal.

The Browns didn't score again on offense. At least, not a score that ended up counting, as Watson's 82-yard touchdown pass to Cooper in the fourth quarter was negated by a holding call on center Nick Harris.

Otherwise, five of the Browns' next six possessions after the Hopkins field goal ended in a punt. The one that didn't ended in a Watson interception that bounced off Cooper's chest, into the air and into the hands of Raiders safety Tre'von Moehrig.

Cooper was not in the locker room after the game. Those that were didn't have an answer for another offensive disappearance after a strong start.

"Yeah, we got to fix it," left guard Joel Bitonio said. "We talk about it. We've talked about it a bunch. We got to fix it. I think the effort's there. I think it's just, like, these mental mistakes which turn to physical in the game, but we can't have those. If we can improve on that, then we give yourself a chance."

However, the Browns defense provided fourth-quarter life when safety Rodney McLeod picked up a fumble caused by defensive end Isaiah McGuire and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown. Just 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Browns were only down 20-16, with Hopkins missing the point-after kick.

Which leads to the final nail in the Browns' coffin Sunday — the fourth-down sack to end their final possession. In many ways, it mirrored another failed fourth down just a week earlier, when Watson didn't throw the ball to an open Akins out in the flat on fourth-and-1 midway through the fourth quarter of the loss to the New York Giants.

"We just got to execute," Watson said. "That's pretty much it."

This time, it was fourth-and-3 from the Raiders 9 with 41 seconds remaining. Akins was on the left side of the formation, where he was joined by Cooper after he motioned across.

Akin was open on the snap as he ran a corner route, which the Raiders secondary didn't converge on until he was into the end zone. Jerry Jeudy, from the right side of the formation, also beat his defender on a slant at the goal line.

Watson either didn't see either player or didn't process it quickly enough to deliver a throw. By the time he wanted to throw, the Raiders' Charles Snowden had looped all the way around from the left side of the Browns line to the right, and he chased down Watson for the sack after the quarterback had tried to scramble to the left when pressure came up the middle from the left.

"You just got to give the Raiders all the credit," Watson said. "That was it. They got to me before anything happened."

Anything, including the Browns pulling out a win.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 'We're not doing enough to get the W': Browns offense again comes up small in big moments