The GameDay Opening Drive 11/23: Taking Care of Business in Sin City
Browns travel out West to battle the Raiders in a game the world will be watching.
Welcome to another week of Cleveland Browns football and, as is the motto for years here: each new week brings a new opportunity. While the desired results haven’t hit expectations so far this year, all it takes is one week of something fun like a Shedeur Sanders start, and win, that could change the vibe of everything. While the Browns need to get the best pick possible, it seems unfair to consider the Sanders situation as a lost investment before you get to see him play a full game with a week of preparation. So, while we all want the Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore pick, let’s just see what Sanders can do today.
They travel out West to face the Raiders in a late kickoff today and, from everything I’ve gathered, it should be quite the Orange and Brown crowd on hand for this one and Browns fans always travel well. If you give them the chance for the second year in a row to go out to the Las Vegas strip for a good time, including their favorite football team on Sunday, and you might have a crowd slanted for Cleveland rather than the home team. Even more so when you consider the game’s attention for Sanders start. It will certainly be on more nationwide televisions than we think and I am quite interested in how the crowd will sound for Sanders’ time on the field.
The weather is chilly here in Ohio but that’s nothing you have to worry about on this football Sunday and we start with the podcast you all love.
Inside the weekly GameDay Opening Drive you will get all the pieces of information paired with your GameDay Podcast to enhance your Sundays with this team.
GameDay Preview Podcast: Week 12, Browns vs Raiders
The Browns are traveling to Sin City today for a matchup against the Raiders, a battle between two struggling teams. The Raiders defeated the Browns in Las Vegas last season, 20-16. The big news is the first career start for Shedeur Sanders, which will draw significant attention to this matchup. We have all the usual pertinent information, including the…
So, sit back, pour some coffee, turn on the best pre-game Browns song known to man, and enjoy a fresh delivery of crucial Week 12 information from yours truly.
Well folks, this one is inside the temperature controlled climate of Allegiant Stadium so nothing to worry about here. Nice temps outside in Vegas and seasonably warm in the Ohio climate still as well.
The Browns and Raiders history started with the AFL/NFL merger in 1970 and it has been filled with each team rattling off prolonged runs of success against the other. The Raiders won 10 of the first 11 meetings between the historic franchises — including two playoff matchups (sorry, Red Right 88). Then the Browns got back into the mix with a streak of their own.
From 1987 to 2014, the Browns won 9 of 12 matchups and the Raiders were one of the few franchises the team handled well upon returning to the NFL in 1999. However, the Raiders have now won the last five meetings including matchups in 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2024.
The Raiders lead the all-time series 18-10.
This parlay on FanDuel gets us some nice odds without the boost but this morning you can lock in another 25% profit boost and get some better odds. We turn today to the wide receivers for some totals we think are low due to the misconception of how Shedeur Sanders will play. Let’s take advantage of it. The Tre Tucker touchdown is risky but he has been a heavy redzone target for the Raiders.
The Browns really changed things up here for the first time in the Stefanski era uniform era. They are going with the orange pants outside of the AFC North, which is very rare, and then pairing them with the white alternate helmet. Total deviation from what they normally do but I suppose Las Vegas brings out the weird in people.
The Raiders will wear their traditional black top, silver pants look. Perhaps one of the most iconic uniforms in all of sports.
Let’s revisit the Browns comeback win in 1993 over the Raiders. The whole game looked bleak as the Browns trailed 13-0 at halftime. This is when things go divisive for Browns fans as head coach Bill Belichick benched Bernie Kosar, who had just led the team to a win over the 49ers on Monday Night Football the week before, for Vinny Testaverde. Kosar and the offense struggled mightily as the veteran quarterback threw three interceptions on the day before being pulled for Testaverde. The Browns rattled off 16 unanswered second half points for the win capped by the Metcalf touchdown with mere seconds left.
“We felt with the way things were going, we were having a problem with protection,” said Belichick in the understatement of the afternoon. “We felt like maybe Vinny would be able to scramble around a little in there and make some plays, and that’s what he did.
“That’s what Vinny’s here for. He stepped up and did a great job for us today. But Bernie is still our starter.” Then, following Week 10 of that same season, the Browns would release Kosar.
Catch us LIVE after the game on the Browns Film Breakdown Show where we will cover everything Post-Game at 7:15PM on our YouTube Channel.
As always, Go Browns!
