This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns take on the Carolina Panthers. Below, we analyze a few advantages, disadvantages, or general thoughts about the two teams before getting to our predictions for the game.
We Can Actually Dig in Now
One game can make a world of a difference. The Browns looked completely unprepared in Week 1 against the Jaguars, and then looked much better in Week 2 against the Buccaneers, pulling off a road victory.
It’s great to get a win, even though the pessimistic side of me (which doesn’t creep in very often)
is wondering to myself, “Hmmm, maybe the Buccaneers were just one of the worst teams in football.” Nonetheless, we now have at least two games worth of statistical rankings for all 32 teams in the NFL, which gives us the opportunity to zone in on teams’ strengths and weaknesses a bit more.
The big thing we want to focus on this week is the Browns’ run game vs. the Panthers’ run defense, which we also talked about earlier in the week. After two games, the Browns have the 31st ranked rushing offense in the NFL, averaging 65.5 yards and 2.91 yards per carry. Most of the positive yards have come on the ground via QB Deshaun Watson, not RB Quinshon Judkins. The Panthers’ run defense ranks dead last in the NFL through two games, allowing 224 yards rushing per game, and an average of 6.31 yards per carry. Their defenders up front haven’t been this bad against the run in the past, so it’s possible they get their act together. Something has to give, though. My instincts tell me that it’s easier for a bad run defense to find success against a bad run offense, as opposed to the other way around.
One area that Cleveland found success with in the second half last week to mitigate their lack of a run game was finding those quick completions on early downs to set up 3rd-and-short situations. I feel like, if a team can use the short passing game to essentially serve the purpose of the ground game, then don’t force anything. Still, it would be a big boost to the offense — which has otherwise shown some promise — to have the running game become a factor.
Flipping the Script
Speaking of something having to give, what about the Browns’ pass defense against the Panthers’ pass offense? Cleveland has their consecutive games streak going of not allowing a 300+ yard passer. Through two games, they’ve allowed 245 and 182 yards, with the secondary looking much sharper last week. QB Bryce Young has thrown for 361 and 287 yards over his first two games, and 3 touchdown passes in each game. He also has a completion of 50+ yards in each of the games.
- Young has been getting his young wide receivers involved early and often. Jalen Coker, who was undrafted in 2024, has 16 catches for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tetairoa McMillan, who was the 8th overall pick last year, has 10 catches for 176 yards. Xavier Legette, who was the 32nd pick in 2024, had 2 catches for 64 yards last week. Carolina has stacked the wide receiver position, and it’s paying off.
- Darren Waller is also a red zone threat for the team. After coming out of retirement last year, he’s gotten more up-to-speed with the Panthers as he rested much of the offseason. If all they need him for is to be a big target for Young down in scoring range, he’s off to a great start, having two touchdown grabs a week ago.
- Shifting focus to the Browns, obviously, Deshaun Watson is coming off his best game as a member of the Browns. He looked comfortable in Week 2, and led a couple of scoring drives in the second half. The two road games are over, though, and now he plays in front of his home crowd. It’s rare that you have to question whether a home crowd will be ‘good’ for a player or not. Watson still clearly thinks about those boos or the reaction he gets, even if he tries to play it off a bit now. I did like his answer this week, when asked about the fans:
“I mean, yeah, the biggest thing is, I don’t never try to go at war with the fans, so the biggest thing is just, ready for support, ready to feel their energy, ready to get this big dub for the city of Cleveland, and continue this great feeling that we have this week. So that’s my motto, is just keep pushing forward, finding ways to win on Sunday to take advantage of the opposing team and get a W.”
- We’ve seen Mason Graham step up two weeks in a row, and I thought Carson Schwesinger had more of an impact in Week 2. We are still waiting for Jared Verse to get more comfortable in the defense, and the top player who could use a better performance defensively right now is Ronnie Hickman, in my opinion.
- Other things to watch on defense: Maliek Collins or Mike Hall playing at a higher level would give a big boost to the consistency of the defensive front. Myles Harden had a big game last week. Injury-wise, questions about the health of Tyson Campbell and Grant Delpit are at the forefront.
- According to FanDuel, the Browns are 2.5 point underdogs against the Panthers. The over/under is 41.5.
Quick Hitters
Defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg gave an explanation on how you adjust your defensive gameplan from week-to-week, to keep teams guessing:
“Tony, the truth is, and I learned this from Coach (Joe) Gibbs, it is a week to week. The game plan, the scheme, it’s about all of us working our asses off each week out, grinding, making this Thursday better than last Thursday, making this meeting that we’re coming up to better than the last meeting, getting this game better than the last game. Whatever the game plan is and what are the executions? Getting that better than last week. And it’s about our style of play and the level of execution. That’s the truth to the way this league goes. It’s such a marathon, and we’re in week three of that marathon right now, and our whole goal is to play better than we did last week and hopefully do enough to help the Browns win.”
Offensive coordinator Travis Switzer talked about how close the team is in getting the run game to click:
“Yeah, I mean, this is a week-to-week league and just look around. Chicago goes from scoring 59 to 3. So, I don’t know about how close, I just know that every week we’re attacking it. And certainly, after last week, and really the first two weeks, we’re not where we want to be there, so we’re looking at everything that goes into that, and everyone involved. I have to look at it schematically, certainly there was a play too, from the game the other day where I’m looking at it like, you know what, I didn’t put us in a great position there. And then we’re looking at just the execution of it by all parties, right, the blockers and the fundamentals and the things that we’re working at up there, the runners and just trusting their eyes and seeing it. But yeah, we’re looking at all parts of that. As far as how close, we’re going to get better. I know that we believe in what we do and we believe in our players, so we know we’re going to get there. But it’s a week-to-week league anyway. Even if we turn around miraculously and we run it great this week, it doesn’t mean anything for the next week, right? We have to reload every week. It’s a week-to-week league.”
Special teams coordinator Byron Storer was asked about DE Sam Williams playing gunner:
“You look back at Sam Williams’ career at Dallas, and he played out there, I played against him out there, actually, so I’m well aware of his ability to play gunner outside. And that’s the thing with a man of his size, you’re like, I would love for him to play in the box and be a guard or a tackle or a wing. But there’s also that ability to go out there and be a gunner outside with four-five speed and just dominate a corner in front of you too. And his mindset is too, he’s like, ‘coach, I can play gunner.’ And I said, ‘you know what, that’s probably the quickest way for you to get on the field right now.’ So, we took advantage of the opportunity.”
Here are predictions from multiple staff members at DBN:
Predictions
Chris Pokorny: “What are the true colors of the orange and brown? We’ve seen two polarizing efforts, but last week’s win over the Buccaneers had to do wonders for the team’s confidence. Cleveland has a chance to build on things, but obviously there are still a lot of question marks. Even though I’m encouraged by what I saw in one week from Watson, that doesn’t yet erase the doubts of seeing years of substandard football from him.
I’ll try to look at things from this perspective: Young has started well in the passing game, but their ground game has not made much of an impact. The Browns’ defense should be up to the task of stopping the pass, so then it comes down to how well the offense can execute. I think it’s reasonable to think that Watson can have another solid outing where he isn’t asked to do too many heroic things.” Browns 23, Panthers 20
Ezweav: “Almost nobody predicted that Deshaun Watson would outplay Baker Mayfield last week (ahem) but it happened, and it does put the entire rest of the season into a completely different perspective. IF (and it’s a big ‘ol I-F) Watson is able to play at that level for any amount of consistency in 2026, then we got something. Time will tell.
Sauntering onto the scene are the Carolina Panthers, who have scored a (large) boatload of points in the first two weeks of the season. It’s possible that they are just a really good offensive outfit that will be a handful for every defense they face. It’s also possible that the first two weeks of the season are their most prolific offensively they have all year. Again, time will tell.
I say the Good Guys build on their defensive performance from last week and stymie the juggernaut’dness of the Claudian attack. They’re due for a crashing-down-to-Earth anyway and they probably know it. Conversely, if Watson’s improvement continues, that means it could cause the “box” to loosen up a bit, and that should allow for the run game to finally get going.
Thus, some will come to boo but stay to cheer.” Browns 23, Panthers 14
Who do you think will win, Browns fans? Let us know in the comments section below.
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