Week 1 Outcome
The Panthers suffered a heartbreaking loss in the Baker Mayfield revenge game, as Cleveland kicked a game-winning field goal in the final seconds to secure a 26-24 win in Week 1. This game was sloppy from the start for Carolina, with Baker Mayfield and the offensive line leading the charge to mediocrity. However, they picked it up dramatically in the second half, erasing a 13-point Cleveland lead in the fourth quarter to go up 24-23 with 1:17 remaining. That was their first lead of the game, and they couldn’t keep it.
A controversial roughing the passer call on Brian Burns helped the Browns get into field goal range, where rookie Cade York drilled a 58-yarder with eight seconds remaining. Mayfield was denied a comeback victory in his new home stadium, as the Browns run game torched all three levels of the Panthers’ defense. Here are the takeaways from an uneven Week 1 performance from Carolina.
Takeaways
After a rough start, Baker impressed in the second half
Baker Mayfield started the game with horrendous accuracy, going 10/19 with an INT in the first half while looking utterly uncomfortable in the pocket. However, all that changed at halftime, as Mayfield led a 17-point fourth quarter comeback that included a rushing score and a 75-yard touchdown bomb to Robbie Anderson.
On the final five drives of the game, beginning with the TD drive at the end of the first half, Mayfield capitalized continuously. He went 9/12 for 211 yards and Carolina scored all 24 points in that span. Mayfield earned a perfect passer rating in the fourth quarter. Something clearly clicked with his timing, because Mayfield went from being dragged on twitter to having his highlights plastered over social media.
The takeaway from Baker’s performance should be positive overall. Although he came up short in his quest for revenge, he looked like the dynamic young star that Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo has been game planning around, and that’s a good sign moving forward.
Cleveland has a very solid defense and are good at containing explosive plays – they ranked second in all of football last year in defensive yards allowed per play with 5.0. However, Mayfield ripped off a 75-yard score as well as a 50-yard bomb down the seam to TE Ian Thomas, which set up a goal line Christian McCaffrey score. Explosive plays were tough to come by last season with Sam Darnold, so that’s another positive takeaway against a tough secondary.
Big problems at center
Mayfield muffed four snaps on Sunday, three of which came in his ugly first half performance. Pat Elflein played all 53 snaps at center for Carolina, was charged with one fumble, had two poor shotgun snaps and another under center exchange was fumbled. With the signing of former Ravens center Bradley Bozeman this offseason, this performance is absolutely unacceptable. If Bozeman isn’t starting next week, all of Panther Nation will be up in arms.
Bozeman was not listed on the injury report and played four special teams snaps but did not take any offensive snaps. After signing a $2.8 million deal this offseason, Bozeman landed at No. 23 on Pro Football Focus’ list of best value NFL contracts. It’s unclear why he wasn’t in the starting lineup in Week 1, but after Elfleins’ struggles, there should be no question as to who starts at center going forward.
Defensive struggles in the run game
Cleveland was slashing the Panthers’ front seven into neat rushing lanes for their All-Pro backs from the get-go. They finished with 39 carries for 217 yards and one score as a team, averaging 5.6 yards per carry – that ranked second in the league for team rushing yards in Week 1. Carolina also had trouble covering Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb in the passing game, as they hauled in all five of their combined targets for 26 yards and a score, giving Hunt both of the Browns’ touchdowns.
Carolina’s front seven is a very young and unproven group. While it’s true that Cleveland has arguably the league’s best offensive line, ranking first in OL Adjusted Line Yards (4.8) last season, according to Football Outsiders, Carolina was still abnormally bad. The Browns controlled the game and tempo throughout, dominating the time of possession 38:26 to 21:34, only giving Carolina four real drives in the second half.
The Panthers need to be more disciplined in the run game, filling up gaps with urgency and communicating on defense. The front seven never looked in sync and there were massive holes in the first and second levels. That Browns offensive line is the best run blocking unit in football, so this isn’t a cause for panic, more an opportunity to evaluate the biggest weakness of this defense. Hopefully the national exposure of that weakness will force Matt Rhule to focus on the run game in practice.
Week 1 Conclusion
If someone had shown me the final score in the first quarter of this game, I’d have been ecstatic that we scored at all. Mayfield salvaged a painfully slow start into a morale-boosting comeback, featuring some flashy plays along the way. Obviously, the goal is to go out and win the game, but for a young offense that started working together just over a month ago, this was a promising showing.
On the defensive end, it was tough to judge the secondary because of early penalties and Brissett’s lack of volume, but the front seven needs to be sharper. They will need to be more aggressive and close the gaps quicker next week when they take on Saquon Barkley and the Giants, the only team with more rushing yards than Cleveland this week.
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