CLEVELAND Browns looking to reverse woeful home record

They have the poorest home record in the NFL since 1999.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- There's no place like home. Unless you're the Cleveland Browns.
Since returning to the NFL in 1999, they've yet to settle into their new digs on the shores of Lake Erie. Over the past four-plus seasons, the Browns are 9-25 at home.
They have the poorest home record in the NFL since '99 entering today's game against the Oakland Raiders (2-3). Worse, Cleveland has lost nine of its last 12 home games, five of the past six and both this season.
What gives?
"It's real crazy," said defensive end Kenard Lang. "I have no excuse for it."
It wasn't always this way. Cleveland was once among NFL's toughest places to play. This is where "Beware of Dog" signs applied to the mask-wearing, battery-throwing, dog-bone waving denizens in the rowdy "Dawg Pound" bleacher section.
But these days, Cleveland fans have no bark or bite. And neither do the Browns (2-3), who can't figure out why.
"It's a mystery," said offensive tackle Barry Stokes, who then hummed the haunting theme song to "The Twilight Zone."
"I really can't tell you what it is," he said. "Maybe the teams that come here, maybe we feed them too good. Maybe we should cut down on their meals, give them little snacks."
Breaking the jinx
Looking for any way to break the home jinx, Browns coach Butch Davis had his team warm up for its Sept. 28 game against the Cincinnati Bengals at the opposite end of the field from where they usually do.
No luck.
Not only did the Browns lose 21-14, but quarterback Tim Couch and tackle Ryan Tucker angrily confronted heckling fans as they left the field afterward.
Davis joked that he has a new plan.
"We're going to get on a plane," Davis quipped. "We're going to fly to Akron and bus back to Cleveland and pretend it's a road game."
It will be a road game for the Raiders, who don't care where they're playing.
Need a win
Coming off a disappointing loss at Chicago, Oakland needs a win -- anywhere.
"It's big," said offensive guard Frank Middleton. "Cleveland doesn't have a good record. Some teams you're supposed to win against. Cleveland is one of those teams you should beat."
So were the Bears. However, the Raiders struggled inside the red zone, settling for five field goals in a 24-21 loss.
Through five weeks, the Raiders have yet to play like defending AFC champions. They were in a similar bind last season, when after a 4-0 start, they dropped four in a row.
But beginning with a 34-10 win at Denver, the Raiders won nine of 10, including two in the playoffs, to earn a spot in the Super Bowl.
They're hoping a road game can send them off on the same path.
"It's the exact same situation, right here, right now," safety Derrick Gibson said. "This is a defining game for us."
It's yet another one for Couch.
The embattled quarterback is coming off the best all-around game of his career, completing 20-of-25 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for another score in the Browns' 33-13 win Sunday night at Pittsburgh.
Couch will make his third straight start for the injured Kelly Holcomb, who was named Cleveland's starter over Couch before the season opener.