The COVID-depleted Browns had a chance to steal a win over the Raiders on Monday night.
After Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr threw an interception late in the fourth quarter with Cleveland up 14-13, the Browns faced third-and-3 from their own 30-yard line. With a couple of key offensive linemen out and a third-string quarterback, Cleveland elected to give the ball to running back Nick Chubb on a handoff to the right.
Chubb was stuffed for no gain, the Browns had to punt, and the Raiders won on a walk-off field goal.
“It’s very frustrating,” Chubb said of the result, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “In the NFL, you have to finish teams like that. The ball was in my hands, but it wasn’t enough. That’s something that we can’t do anything about it now, but in the future, I have to make a play, we have to make a play or something.”
Being without so many key players and their head coach due to COVID-19, the Browns having any chance of winning in the fourth quarter says something about both teams. But that doesn’t change what the standings say, as the Browns are now 7-7 and looking up at the rest of the AFC North.
“It wasn’t enough in the end, but our guys, I think we did fight our ass off,” Chubb said. “It was tough coming into the situation that we were in. But it is what it is. I think a lot of guys stepped up that needed to step up. At the end of the day, we’ve got to finish, and we weren’t able to.”
