The Sports Xchange

ALAMEDA, Calif. — No telling how it will end, but the early storyline on the 2015 Oakland Raiders is a page-turner for a change.

A 27-20 win over the Cleveland Browns Sunday was significant on several fronts. It broke an 11-game road losing streak dating back to 2013, and a 16-game losing streak dating back to Dec. 6, 2009 in so-called morning games in the Eastern time zone.

The Raiders won two straight for the first time in a span of 43 games and, at 2-1, have a winning record for the first time since they were 7-6 in 2010. After a disappointing 33-13 loss to Cincinnati in the home opener, the Raiders rallied for a 37-33 win over Baltimore in Week 2.

An interception by Charles Woodson against Josh McCown with 38 seconds to play sealed a win that appeared to be secure at 27-10 a short time earlier.

Head coach Jack Del Rio publicly downplayed the road losing streaks as something that was accumulated by other teams, but it didn’t stop him from crowing about breaking it when he met with the team immediately after the game.

“Who said we can’t travel east and win an early game?” Del Rio told his team in a video posted by the club’s website.

Woodson, who returned to the Raiders two years ago and was involved in the 11 straight road losses agreed.

“This is what coach Del Rio has been talking about all offseason; we need to change the culture of football here,” Woodson said. “You guys know the last couple of years, we don’t win this game. To pull out two tough games the last few weeks is really huge for this team.”

Del Rio was pleased to establish the current Raiders road-worthy.

“It’s good to get started on the road,” Del Rio said. “This was our first game on the road. Chapter 3 for us, and we like the way it was written.”

Whatever minimal success the Raiders had over the past three years — they were 2-22 — was repeated against Cleveland.

In both previous wins, 26-16 over Kansas City in 2012 and 25-20 over Houston in 2013, the Raiders had a running back break 100 yards rushing as Darren McFadden had 114 yards against the Chiefs and Rashad Jennings 150 against the Texans.

Latavius Murray continued that trend, rushing for a career-high 139 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown.

As was the case in the win over the Texans, the Raiders got off to a lead, taking a 17-3 halftime advantage and largely taking the crowd out of the game.

It was the first road win for quarterback Derek Carr, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 314 yards and touchdowns of three yards to Andre Holmes and 14 yards to Seth Roberts.

“It’s huge to get a win on the road,” Carr said. “This team hadn’t won on the road yet. We have a new group of guys, a new coach, a new way that we do things. To go into someone else’s place and get a win, it’s probably one of the hardest things to do in the NFL. I’m just happy for our team.”

REPORT CARD VS. BROWNS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus. Carr completed 20 of 32 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns with a long gain of 55 yards. The yardage came mostly through yards after catch, including a 55-yard catch and run by Marcel Reece, one of 40 yards by Amari Cooper and 36 yards by Seth Roberts. Roberts dropped two passes and the Raiders misfired late when attempting to keep the ball away from Cleveland.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B. Murray had 139 yards on 26 carries, with much of it coming on gains of 54 and 20 yards. He also had a 6-yard tackle-breaking run for a touchdown. In all, the Raiders had 155 yards rushing on 30 attempts after realizing going into the game that yards on the ground would be crucial on the road.

–PASS DEFENSE: C-plus. The Raiders were surprisingly good through much of the game then came within a Woodson late interception of giving it all back. Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown was 28 of 49 for 341 yards and two touchdowns, but 237 of those yards and both touchdowns came in the second half. Covering the tight end continued to be a mystery, as Gary Barnidge caught six passes for 105 yards. The pass rush was good, with five sacks, including two by Khalil Mack.

–RUN DEFENSE: A. The Browns got nowhere against the Raiders’ front seven, with 39 yards on 14 carries and Isaiah Crowell gaining 36 yards on 10 attempts. Cleveland had just two first downs rushing, and aside from one 17-yard run from Crowell, averaged just 1.6 yards per attempt before abandoning the run altogether because of the score.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus. Two big plays were really more mistakes by the Browns than big plays by the Raiders. A roughing the punter call against Marquette King resulted in a first down on an early touchdown drive, and a late muffed punt by Travis Benjamin, recovered by Neiron Ball, stifled some late Cleveland momentum. Three punt returns, including one by Cooper, went for just six yards. Taiwan Jones had kickoff returns of 35 and 25 yards. Sebastian Janikowski kicked field goals of 23 and 35 yards without a miss.

COACHING: A. Hey, forget the details, serving up a win on the breakfast menu in the east is big. First win in an early game in the east in 16 outings, dating back to 2009. Not a perfect show, but proof that this team should be taken seriously.