Las Vegas Raiders at Cleveland Browns: 3 things to watch in Week 8

Raiders pass offense vs Cleveland’s pass defense

For the Raiders, the obvious weakness to attack on Sunday will be the Browns’ pass defense as it is currently ranked 30th in the NFL in yards allowed. The Raiders meanwhile currently boast the 7th ranked passing offense in yards and 8th ranked passing offense in touchdowns scored.

What is interesting about Cleveland’s struggles is that they are able to get to the QB at a decent clip but still give up massive amounts of yards in the passing game. They are currently 10th in the NFL in sacks with 18, are 15th in sack percentage, but are 24th in QB hits. So when they get to the QB they usually sack him but there are plenty of plays when the pass rush doesn’t make it home.

Part of that may be that they are too dependent on Myles Garrett who has 9 sacks through 7 games, as many as the rest of the team combined. If the Raiders and LT Kolton Miller can win the matchup against Garrett, especially one-on-one, then the rest of the defensive line should struggle to get to Derek Carr.

The lack of a consistent pass rush has put extra pressure on the Cleveland defensive backs and they have struggled to affect plays. They have however forced their fair share of turnovers with 7 interceptions in 7 games so far. The real liabilities in their pass defense have been linebackers Malcolm Smith and BJ Goodson who are both allowing between a 76-80% completion rate when targeted.

Derek Carr should have plenty of time to dice up this Browns defense but will always have to be wary of the threat Myles Garrett poses and take care of the ball the way he has all season. Carr has been lights out against the Browns in his career so far, throwing 7 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions and passing for 1079 yards in just 3 games.