5 Takeaways From Oakland Raiders’ Week 8 Loss To Cleveland Browns

What could have been -- the Raiders missed at least three golden opportunities to intercept Brian Hoyer, one of them a sure pick-six that would have sent the teams to the locker room at halftime with the Raiders up 10-9. Instead, they settled for a field goal and a 9-6 deficit. It turned out to be a deficit they couldn't overcome. This team cannot afford to throw away gifts like those the Browns tried to give them repeatedly.

Coming into the game, the Browns had the worst rushing defense in the NFL. So what kind of game plan did OC Greg Olson dial up? A pass-heavy offense that virtually ignored the running game. Derek Carr attempted 54 passes on the day while Darren McFadden – who got off to a terrific start to the day – had just 12 carries for the entire game. Those 12 went for 59 yards, good for 4.9 YPC. Fans are left to wonder what Olson was thinking.

There is no doubt that among the highly-touted rookie QBs that entered the league in 2014, Derek Carr is establishing himself as one of the better ones. As good as Carr has been though, he still has much growing to do. On several plays, Carr threw too quickly, missing wide-open receivers that could have gone for big gains – possibly even touchdowns, which have been scarce for Oakland this season. Carr is good, but can be much better.

Third-down defense has been an absolute bugaboo for the Raiders this season. They entered the game with Cleveland giving up third-down conversions at a rate of more than 51 percent. However, the much maligned defense rallied and held the Browns to a 2-12 conversion day. Unfortunately for the Raiders, one of those conversions came late in the second half, killing any hope of a comeback -- but take the positives where you can.

The game against Cleveland was the final game of the “soft” part of Oakland's schedule -- a portion that left them at 0-7. The final nine games of the season include dates with Denver, San Francisco, Kansas City, San Diego and Seattle. They only play one team with a sub-.500 record, and that is against the Rams in St. Louis. And the Raiders have been terrible on the road. An 0-16 record may not be as far-fetched as we thought.