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Hoyer, Browns ease past Raiders

Oct 27, 2014 - 5:00 AM Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Brian Hoyer shook off a poor performance from a week ago to lead the Cleveland Browns to a 23-13 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Hoyer, who converted just 16-of-41 passes in a loss to lowly Jacksonville last week, was an efficient 19-of-28 for 275 yards with one touchdown against the Raiders.

It wasn't all that great of a performance by the Browns offense, though, as the rushing attack of Ben Tate, Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell managed only 39 yards on 25 carries.

Cleveland (4-3) has won three of its last four.

Derek Carr passed for a career-high 328 yards on 34-for-54 passing with a touchdown for Oakland (0-7), which has now dropped 13 straight games dating back to last season.

"Came up short again," Raiders interim head coach Tony Sparano said. "I thought they played with a lot of energy, with a lot of passion."

Oakland got tricky on its opening drive of the contest, but the play backfired and Tashaun Gipson ended up with his fifth interception of the season.

On fourth down from the Browns 39, the field goal team came on for the visitors. As Sebastian Janikowski lined up for the long attempt, holder Matt Schaub called an audible, with Janikowski splitting out wide to the right. Schaub mishandled the snap, picked up the loose ball and fired down field, where Gipson made a nice catch on Schaub's first pass as a Raider.

Gipson returned the interception 35 yards, and it led to a 52-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff for a 3-0 Browns lead.

Cundiff knocked down a 33-yard kick later in the first, then added a 26-yard boot with under six minutes remaining until half to make it 9-0.

Janikowski sandwiched a pair of field goals around a Cleveland punt and the Raiders trimmed the deficit to three at the break.

After five punts were exchanged to start the third quarter between the teams, Oakland was driving before Donte Whitner forced a fumble of Darren McFadden and Joe Haden returned it 34 yards to midfield.

"We knew that (Jacksonville) was a trap game," Whitner said. "They are a good team and Oakland is a good team. We wanted to get that sour taste out of our mouth."

Hoyer immediately went deep to Hawkins for a 32-yard gain, then the two hooked up again three plays later for a 4-yard TD to make it a 16-6 game.

The Raiders' last ditch effort came up short, as Carr was sacked and stripped of the football deep in his own territory by Desmond Bryant with Barkevious Mingo recovering.

Two plays later, Tate plunged into the end zone from five yards out at the 3:13 mark of the fourth.

Carr led his team down the field for a touchdown late, hitting Andre Holmes for a 10-yard score with seconds remaining.

Game Notes

Tight end Jordan Cameron suffered a concussion in the first half and did not return. He finished with three receptions for 40 yards ... Oakland is 2-17 on the road since 2012 ... Hawkins paced Cleveland with 88 yards on seven receptions, while Mychal Rivera hauled in seven passes for 83 yards in the setback ... Tate led the team with 26 yards on 15 carries, while West had 11 yards on seven touches and Crowell managed just one yard on his only carry ... Carr had thrown for less than 200 yards in three of six games entering Sunday ... Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James was in attendance for the game.