Sunday, November 1, 2020, FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio, 1 p.m. ET
Raiders at Browns Betting Preview: Raiders (+2.5/-105), Browns (-2.5/-115)
Las Vegas Raiders
Although they are a pedestrian 3-3 on the season, the Raiders have played some of their best football on the road where they have gone 2-1, including an impressive 40-32 upset of the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Kansas City on Oct. 11, their last game away from Allegiant Stadium. They also opened the season with a 34-30 victory at Carolina.
Quarterback David Carr is having a solid season by completing 72 percent of his passes (152 of 211) for 1,726 yards, 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He has a deep group of receiving targets to throw to led by 6-6 tight end Darren Waller, who has 40 receptions for 345 yards and three touchdowns, and explosive first-round pick Henry Ruggs III, who is averaging 26.5 yards on his eight receptions.
The defense has struggled, however, ranking 31st in points allowed (32.8) and 28th in passing yards allowed (283.8) and has managed just seven sacks.
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady wasn’t sacked and was hit just once in last Sunday’s 45-20 home loss to the Buccaneers and passed for 369 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another score.
Cleveland Browns
Don’t look now but the Browns could go into next week’s bye with a 6-2 record with a win on Sunday with winnable home games against Houston and Philadelphia on deck. For a team that hasn’t won more than seven games in a season — they reached that mark twice — since finishing 10-6-0 in 2007, that’s cause for optimism.
Oft-maligned quarterback Baker Mayfield comes in off one of his finest games as a professional, completing 22 of 28 passes (78.6 percent), including a franchise record 21 completions in a row down the stretch, for 297 yards and a team single-game, record-tying five touchdowns in a wild 37-34 victory over Cincinnati on Sunday en route to earning AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Mayfield hit Donovan Peoples-Jones with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 11 seconds left to win it.
The bad news is Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. tore his ACL in the first quarter while trying to chase down cornerback Darius Phillips to make a tackle after Mayfield was picked off and is out for the year. And Cleveland’s other top receiving threat, Jarvis Landry, is playing with a broken rib.
Raiders at Browns Betting Pick for Week 8
Both teams struggle defensively as the Browns are 29th in scoring defense (31.6) and 29th in pass defense (288.1) to go along with the aforementioned Raiders’ figures.
Cleveland star defensive end Myles Garrett leads the NFL with nine sacks, two more than the entire Las Vegas team, and has also forced four fumbles and could be the difference in this one.
Raiders at Browns Betting Pick:
Browns 24, Raiders 21
Raiders at Browns Best Bet for Week 8
The total for this game opened at 55.5 and has been bet down to 51.5 thanks in part to a weather forecast that includes a 60 percent chance of rain, gusty winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour and temperatures in the low 50s.
That means both teams will lean heavily on the run while putting together some long time-consuming drives.
Raiders at Browns Best Bet: UNDER 51.5 total points (-118)
