OAKLAND — The Raiders were dead. Their quarterback blew two drives with interceptions deep in Browns territory. They trailed by 14 to the former laughingstock of the NFL, and they looked primed to be the new laughingstock of the league after Sunday’s game.
Not to mention, they lost a six-point fourth-quarter lead and trailed by eight with a minute and a half left, the ball at their own 25, 0-4 staring them in the face.
Yet with their backs against the wall, the Raiders barely kept their season alive with a 45-42 comeback win in overtime.
The Raiders had been outscored 37-3 in their first three fourth quarters, but it was a fourth-quarter comeback against the upstart Browns that prevented Oakland’s season from effectively ending before it really even began, sending the game to overtime before the Raiders rode a Matt McCrane 29-yard field goal to a dramatic win.