2 In A Row! So Close Yet So Far

 The Raiders had the momentum of a win at Denver last week coming into Cleveland.  This game was supposed to be Charlie Frye showing the Browns they made a bad move by trading him.  This was going to be the Raiders finally getting back to back wins and finishing strong.  But the Raiders theme of the season has been inconsistency, and thats what they showed at Cleveland. 

The Raiders started the game with the ball and after a 4 yard run by McFadden, Charlie Frye dropped back and threw his 1st of 4 INTs of the game, giving Cleveland the ball in the red zone.  Jerome Harrison ran for a TD from 17 yards out.  He would finish with 39 carries for 148 yards and a TD.  The Raiders quickly fell behind 10-0.  The offense was going 3 and out.  Then the Raiders stepped up and got 2 FGs from Janikowski to make it a 10-6 game late in the 2nd quarter.  Remember the season theme:  inconsistency. 

  Inside the 2 minute warning the Browns were backed up to their own 7.  Then the Raiders defense felt like giving free yards, good holiday spirit.  Richard Seymour (who cost us a Round 1 pick in 2011) had his personal foul penalty cancelled by a Browns personal foul.  But Seymour wouldn't shut his mouth and got flagged for unsportsman-like conduct.  Then Stanford Routt was flagged for "a blatant head butt" as the refs said and he was ejected, plus a 15 yard penalty.  THe drive ended with Derek Anderson throwing a TD to Mohamed Massaquoi (a rookie).  The inconsistency continued.  The Raiders offense then got back to back quick passes and stopped the clock with 1 second left and SeaBass hit a 61 yard FG, yes 61 yards!

  With the game in reach at halftime (17-9) the Raiders continued to be inconsistent.  A short kick to start the second half gave the Browns great field possesion giving them a FG (20-9).  The Browns won 23-9 in an ugly 2nd half and the familiar theory of the refs hating the Raiders resurfaced.  Tony Stewart was ejected with Stanford Routt and Zach Miller was given an unsportman-like conduct penalty for literally nothing.  He dropped the ball and the ball hit a Browns leg.  Cleveland had players throwing punches but no ejections for them.The Raiders ended with 130 penalty yards. 

  On the bright side, Zach Miller had 100 receiving yards.  Kirk Morrison forced Jerome Harrison to fumble at the Raiders 3 yard line, recovered by Greg Ellis to crush a Browns scoring opportunity.  Michael Bush only had 10 carries (led team) for 52 yards.  Those were the few positives, back to Charlie Frye who helped kill this offense.

  Frye threw 4 INTs and led no TD drives.  Not to give him all the blame the Raiders had a 1st and goal at the 2 yard line and Tom Cable called 4 passes, all incomplete.  Not one running play from the 2.  Wow!  Frye also completed 26 of 45 for 333 yards and a 53.3 rating.  But 333 yards do not excuse 4 picks.  Frye has been by far worse than Gradkowski since entering the game.  At least JaMarcus beat the Broncos.  And Frye did not show great mobility in the pocket.  He was sacked 4 times.  Some of that is bad blocking but only so much. 

  How a team can beat the defending champions and 3 other playoff bound teams in the same season they lose to the Redskins at home and the Browns is true inconsistency.  Just Win Maybe!