It wasn’t pretty but the Cleveland Browns survived some late game drama to pull off a 21-18 win against the Carolina Panthers. Cleveland grabbed the early lead and then spent the rest of the afternoon letting the Panthers creep back into the game. Carolina took an eventual lead 18-13 and it seemed with only a few minutes left that the Browns were finished.
However, the Browns offense had one last jolt to take the lead back and the team’s defense held the Panthers down on two last minute drives.
The Browns didn’t have many offensive possessions in this game that were successful but they did take advantage of some Panther mistakes to build a 10-0 lead early. Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson didn’t play great in the game either but had a few really good plays with both his arm and feet to help build the early lead. Those advantages showed up again late in the game to take the lead back.
There had been a lot of buildup in Watson starting this Week 3 game as it was the Browns home opener. After weeks of speculation about Watson after he ripped the Cleveland fan base for booing him during a previous preseason game there were questions on how the fans would react to Watson in this home opener. There were some boos for his poor play during this game. However, there were also cheers for many great plays he made.
Watson had this to say about the buildup to the game:
“From the moment I woke up just the anticipation, just the anxiousness, just to get in front of the fans, just to get here, just to get started…l wanted to play perfect so bad. The energy, the tans…it was amazing. I told our guys in the huddle, ‘just keep believin’ in me!”
Cleveland got on the board first late in the 2nd quarter with a 48 yard field by Andre Szmyt to go up 3-0. On the next Carolina possession they turned the ball over on downs to give the Browns excellent field position at the Panthers 40 yard line.
From there Cleveland moved the ball down to the 10 on runs of 11 yards by Quinshon Judkins and 19 yards by Raheim Sanders.
Facing a 4th and 3 with 1:43, Watson was able to find tight end Harold Fannin in the back corner of the endzone to expand the lead to 10-0.
Carolina then started chipping away with field goals into the second half and eventually took the lead 12-10 on their fourth field goal of the day.
Cleveland wasn’t done though as they put together a late 4th quarter drive of their own and got a field goal to go back up 13-12. On the drive, Watson was able to connect with wide receiver Denzel Boston on a 20 yard gain.
The tiring Browns defense though couldn’t stop the Panthers on their next possession as Carolina went 72 yards on six plays and scored their first touchdown on the day to go up 18-13 with 4:29 left in the game. The Panthers missed on their 2 pt conversion attempt.
Cleveland had one more drive to try and take the lead back and they did. Watson made a huge 3rd down conversion with his legs rumbling for 21yards on a 3rd and 3 from the Carolina 45. That got his team down to the 24 yard line. The Browns then took advantage of a late hit on Watson by the Panthers that got them down to the 14 yard line. Watson then converted a 14 yard touchdown to Fannin to grab the lead back 19-18 with 1:55 remaining. They made it 21-18 on the 2 point conversion with Watson hitting Boston for the score.
On Carolina’s next offensive possession the Browns forced the ball over on downs and it looked like they would walk away with the win. However, the offense sputtered and got another of its 12 penalties on the day to stop the clock. Cleveland tried to go for it on a 4th and 1 but couldn’t convert.
Thus the Panthers got the ball back with a minute to go.
Fortunately, the Browns defense kept pressuring the Carolina quarterback Bryce Young and forced a tipped pass that was intercepted by Browns safety Ronnie Hickman Jr ending the last threat.
After the Browns last sequence on the field and giving the ball back to the Panthers, Cleveland head coach Todd Monken said this:
“It’s never easy, you know, it’s just not,” Monken said. “I credit our defense for going back out there — it’s why I have my hat backwards. It’s for Rudy. I don’t ever wear my hat backwards. But hats off to the defense. I mean, what a great job they did.”
If you had said the Browns would have a record of 2-1 after three weeks of the NFL season I think most Browns fans would be very happy. It hasn’t looked pretty but still Cleveland has won two games and are tied for the AFC North Division lead.
Now, attention will go to Cleveland’s next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday.
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