The Carolina Panthers suffered a frustrating loss to the Cleveland Browns 21-18 on Sunday.
“The Panthers took an 18-13 lead with 4:25 remaining when John Metchie III hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Young,” an ESPN article says. “But the Browns (2-1) went 65 yards in eight plays for their second straight comeback win.”
After some Deshaun Watson heroics, the Browns were able come away with a win after Bryce Young threw an interception late in the game to seal the Panthers’ loss.
“After struggling for most of the game, Watson came through when it counted on Sunday,” an ESPN article says. “He led a late fourth-quarter drive and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Harold Fannin Jr. with 1:48 remaining as the Browns rallied for a 21-18 victory over the Carolina Panthers.”
Panthers Players Address Run Game
The Panthers rushed for a total of 98 yards against the Cleveland Browns and the team missed out on a lot of opportunities during the game. Through three weeks, they’re 21st in the league in rushing, averaging 97 yards per game.
The run game has clearly been a struggle for this team even though their passing attack is one of the best in the NFL.
Right guard Robert Hunt made comments about the run game and no one seems to have the answers.
“I can’t really say,” Hunt said. “I think we all just got to do a better job. I think we just — kind of hate to say it but — like (we’re) one man off every time. That could be from me to anybody else, so we always got to be on the same page.
“I think we got it clicking later on in the game, and it felt good, and it looked good, but we got to start early. We start early, it’s a different ballgame.”
“Finally, we were able to kind of settle in towards the end of the game and really the feature of that touchdown drive was the run game, the play actions, the offense that we know,” coach Dave Canales said.
More from Head Coach Dave Canales
The Cleveland Browns deserve at least some credit for making Carolina one-dimensional this past Sunday. When you become one-dimensional, you are not going to win many games in the NFL.
“We didn’t handle the movement well up front, and it was — we’re looking at it schematically and structurally; the runs looked fine, we missed some blocks up front,” Canales said. “We knew the challenge of this group is that they’re quick, they move at the point, they do different things, and we didn’t handle that well early.
“The Browns did a great job covering us, making it challenging. Some of their rush patterns, you know, created a little bit of pressure for Bryce, so he had to get the ball out a little bit earlier than he needed to. So, some things to work on, some things to look at, but I got to give a lot of credit to those guys for executing a good plan.”
Carolina will have another chance to get the run game going in their Sunday Night football matchup against the Detroit Lions, whose defense is struggling.
Panthers Reveal Clear Issue After Loss to Browns