Dawgs By Nature
Cleveland has been playing the Oakland/Los Angeles/Las Vegas Raiders since 1970. Here are 5 memorable games in the series.
The Cleveland Browns will face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12 of the 2025 NFL season.
It will be the second consecutive trip to Sin City for the Browns, who have lost five in a row to the Raiders in a series that began in 1970.
Related: Browns 2025 Schedule Primer: Week 12 Las Vegas Raiders
The Browns are a decent-enough 7-10 all-time as the road team against the Raiders, with their last win coming in 2012. Overall, the Raiders hold an 18-10 edge in the series, which includes two meetings in the playoffs.
Let’s take a look at five memorable games between the Browns and the Raiders.
The Browns dug themselves a 13-point hole in the second quarter of their first meeting with the Raiders, but started their comeback on a 10-yard touchdown reception by Leroy Kelly in the second quarter. Cleveland tacked on a 63-yard touchdown run by Bo Scott in the third quarter, and after Don Cockroft converted a 32-yard field goal, the Browns were up 20-13 with a little more than four minutes remaining.
Enter George Blanda, who took his first NFL snap in 1949 with the Chicago Bears. Normally Oakland’s kicker, Blanda was pressed into service at quarterback after the Browns knocked starter Daryle Lamonica out of the game in the fourth quarter.
Blanda moved the Raiders down the field, hit Warren Wells with a 14-yard touchdown pass, and after making the extra point, the game was tied at 20 with about a minute remaining.
The Browns got daring, not wanting to settle for a tie in the pre-overtime days, but Bill Nelsen’s third interception of the day gave the Raiders the ball back near midfield with 34 seconds remaining. A few plays later, Blanda made a 52-yard field goal to complete the comeback and send the Browns home in disappointment.
Everything was set up for the Browns when they hosted the warm-weather Raiders in an AFC Divisional Playoff Game played on a day when the wind chill hit -36 degrees.
The weather hampered the offenses of both teams, however, and the Browns scored their only touchdown of the day on a 42-yard interception return by Ron Bolton in the second quarter. The Raiders answered back with a one-yard touchdown run by Mark Van Eeghen, but a pair of Don Cockroft field goals in the third quarter put the Browns up, 12-7, with one quarter left to be played.
Oakland retook the lead on another one-yard touchdown run by van Eeghen, and it looked like the day was lost when Cleveland’s Brian Sipe fumbled the ball back to the Raiders in Cleveland territory with about four minutes remaining. Cleveland’s defense held, however, and the Browns took over at their 15-yard line with one final chance.
Sipe found his touch...
