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Andy McNamara
Raiders vs. Browns Point Spread: NFL Week 8 Odds, Prediction
The Cleveland Browns are a perfect 3-0 at home this season and hope to improve that record when the visiting Las Vegas Raiders travel to FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
This is a key conference matchup between two clubs in the thick of an AFC Wildcard race as the Raiders head into Cleveland to face the Browns. Las Vegas leads the all-time series 15-10, and beat the Browns in their last meeting 45-42 at Oakland back in 2018. Cleveland’s a 2.5-point favourite and the Over/Under is set at 50.0.
Las Vegas Raiders
Which Raiders team will show up Sunday? The one that hung 40 on the defending Super Bowl champs or the group that was demolished by Tampa Bay a week ago? Jon Gruden’s crew can score in bunches (11th in points/game), but have also allowed the second most points to opponents at 32.8. The defense overall is 26th and rank dead last in takeaways. It provides for some exciting shootouts and the Over in total points record of 5-0-1 in Vegas’ last six contests reflects that.
Now in his seventh season, quarterback Derek Carr is on pace for his best statistical campaign yet. That’s pretty impressive considering the amount of injuries he’s had to deal with at wide receiver. Nelson Agholor’s become a reliable go to alongside the stellar play of Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs out of the backfield.
The Raiders are 4-1 against the spread (ATS) in their past five road games.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns rebounded from the embarrassing loss to Pittsburgh by hanging on for a wild victory in Cincinnati to earn a huge in-division victory to move to 5-2. Baker Mayfield bounced back with five-touchdown passes and set a franchise record for consecutive pass completions (22). The downside was losing Odell Beckham Jr. to a torn ACL, which elevates Rashard “Hollywood” Higgins to the WR-2 position. It’ll be interesting to see how the play-calling adapts to not force feeding the ball to OBJ.
Cleveland’s defense is a strange contrast. On the one side they are the NFL leaders in takeaways and Myles Garrett is No. 1 in sacks. However, the ‘D’ is collectively ranked 30th in passing yards average at 288.1.
The common denominator in this one is that both defenses can be lit up. To me, this all tracks to being a high scoring showdown with multiple lead changes that is screaming for bettors to take the Over on the 50.0 O/U.
LV
CLE