(Picture by Nick Cammett/Getty Pictures)
The Cleveland Browns couldn’t muster sufficient offense to defeat the Las Vegas Raiders, falling 20-16 to the AFC West squad at the moment.
Whereas a number of performs had been essential in hindsight, one play particularly stood out for many analysts and followers on the time it occurred.
The Browns had been pinned deep inside their territory with just below three minutes remaining within the first half towards the Raiders when Cleveland started their drive.
Cleveland’s drive stalled on the Las Vegas 40-yard line when quarterback Deshaun Watson was underneath strain and prematurely threw towards Amari Cooper.
As a substitute of kicking sending Dustin Hopkins in to kick a possible 50-plus yard subject objective, Stefanski elected to punt as an alternative with 1:28 remaining within the first half.
These potential three factors had been the distinction in Cleveland going for a game-winning subject objective on the ultimate drive and going for a landing with underneath 40 seconds remaining within the contest.
After the sport, analyst Daniel Oyefusi shared Stefanski’s ideas about why he elected to punt as an alternative of kicking the sphere objective.
“We simply felt assured in that second, simply maintaining them pinned deep,” Stefanski stated, including, “Clearly, Dustin’s a man that we definitely trust in, however we need to be good there, too.”
Why didn’t Kevin Stefanski try a 57-yd FG late within the first half?
Stefanski: “We simply felt assured in that second, simply maintaining them pinned deep. Clearly Dustin’s a man that we definitely trust in, however we need to be good there, too.”
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) September 29, 2024
Within the first quarter, Cleveland known as on Hopkins from 56 yards away, and the placekicker nailed the kick with loads of distance to spare.
Hopkins’ solely miss on the day was an additional level after the Browns pressured a fumble and scored on the identical defensive play, giving Cleveland a four-point deficit with the botched kick within the second half.
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