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Panthers lose heartbreaker to Browns as 58-yard FG from rookie kicker sinks Baker Mayfield’s Carolina debut
Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
Sun 1:00 PM
vsNYG
Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
Sun 1:00 PM
vsNYJ
Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield
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QB
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#6
Shi Smith
Shi Smith
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WR
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#12
Baker Mayfield may or may not have said that he planned to “f***” the Browns up on Sunday
Regardless, he made his best effort to do so with a second-half rally, but came up excruciatingly short as a 58-yard field goal by Browns rookie kicker Cade York sank the Carolina Panthers in a 26-24 Cleveland win.
Facing a Cleveland team absent starting quarterback Deshaun Watson for the season’s first 11 games, Carolina got off to a rough start against Mayfield’s former Browns. But Mayfield rallied the Panthers to a late 24-23 lead thanks to a pair of second-half touchdowns — one on the ground and another through the air.
The Browns answered a late go-ahead Panthers score by driving 35 yards in 1:05 to set up York’s game-winner with 8 seconds remaining.
Tough start, frantic finish for Mayfield
Carolina’s first five possessions Sunday ended with four punts and an interception. Its only first down in the span arrived courtesy of a roughing-the-passer call on defensive tackle Taven Bryan. The five possessions resulted in a grand total of 13 yards of Carolina offense.
Mayfield’s interception took place when he sailed a pass over the head of intended receiver Shi Smith on third-and 20 early in the third quarter. Instead, it ended up in the hands of safety Grant Delpit.
The turnover set a likewise stagnant Browns offense up for its first touchdown that Nick Chubb kickstarted with a 35-yard run. Chubb’s burst set the tone for Cleveland’s offense as he powered the Browns on a 141-yard rushing day.
Mayfield salvaged his first half on Carolina’s next possession with a 50-yard pass to tight end Ian Thomas. The play set up the Panthers’ first score, a Christian McCaffrey touchdown run. He then found his rhythm in the second half only to see the Browns rally to spoil his debut.
Cleveland built on its lead with a pair of field goals and a 24-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt. Seemingly out of the game, Carolina then cut its 20-7 second-half deficit to six points when Mayfield scrambled for a 7-yard TD on third down early in the fourth quarter. The run capped an 11-play 75-yard drive.
Cleveland responded with a field goal to extend its lead back to two possessions at 23-14 with 6:14 remaining.
Carolina’s next drive then covered the same ground as its previous, but took considerably less time. On first-and-10 from the Carolina 25, Mayfield launched a 75-yard bomb that Robbie Anderson corralled at the Cleveland 30 and ran untouched into the end zone.
The score cut Carolina’s deficit to 23-21. Cleveland’s next drive stalled after 19 yards, and the Panthers drove 64 yards in 1:01 to set up Eddy Pineiro’s 34-yard go-ahead field goal with 1:13 remaining. It turned out to be too much time.
The Browns picked up 15 yards on the first play of their ensuing drive on a roughing-the-passer penalty after Carolina’s Brian Burns hit Jacoby Brissett on an incomplete pass. The Browns then picked up 20 more yards on four plays, which turned out to be just enough to set up York for the game-winning field goal.
The Baker Mayfield era with Carolina is off to a painfully disappointing start. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
The Baker Mayfield era with Carolina is off to a painfully disappointing start. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
For Carolina, the loss marks a disappointing end to the start of the Mayfield era as he sought to hang a loss on the team that picked him first overall in the 2018 draft before jettisoning him this offseason in favor of Watson. Mayfield finished the day completing 16 of 27 passes for 235 yards with a touchdown and an interception while adding a touchdown on the ground.
For Cleveland, the win adds up to relief following a tumultuous offseason centered on the acquisition of Watson amid a multitude of sexual assault and sexual misconduct allegations that ultimately led to his 11-game suspension. Brissett, playing in Watson’s stead, completed 18 of 34 passes for a touchdown without turning over the ball.
Cleveland’s ground game did the bulk of the work on offense with a 217-yard rushing day. Meanwhile, Myles Garrett tallied two of Cleveland’s nine sacks of its former quarterback while the Browns limited McCaffrey to 57 yards from scrimmage.
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O line still not clicking. Hope we will get it together before we play giants sunday.
Might need to look at trading for Justin Reid to play center.
Them boys scared to tackle on defense point blank period they had 18 missed tackles wtf
I know baker hurt he talk to much
Y'all was so up on him though he was gone be a good corner 😂
Y'all ass baker ass y'all going to see like I saw in Cleveland too many body passes and always throw an interception
I'm so weak y'all was so hyped all week your ass is f***
Gotta get McCall beside brown & barno and n the field & fu$k rule
Hang in there guys. A couple of bad calls at the end. That's not the only reason s we lost though. I like how our guys kept fighting. Form tackles better be an emphasis on practice this week. And let's get cmc more touches!!
Bottom line the Cleveland Browns are good football team a very good football team with a lot of talent and they got lucky to beat the panthers. But that's all right. 16 more games Bakers only going to get better.
You’ve been talking about setting the edge for a while.
I say the same thing about Jacoby but give credit where credits due, man was dropping some nice passes
Baker let his emotions win in the 1st half
Assuming our rush defense doesn’t improve, I’m looking at the running back we face to see if we have a chance. What scares me is that we didn’t face that great of a QB and still lost. Imagine us facing a better QB and a star rushing back…we’re in trouble unless improvements take place…smh!
We almost won a game we shouldve lost and did lose. The reason for this lose was strictly on the Dline. They couldnt stop Chubb. Chubb would get 5 to 7 yards on first down at ease. They controlled Time of Possession and thats why the touches was low on offense.
Carolina’s defense lost that game!
Don’t kid yourself. The team is not going to be good under Rhule. Not trying to be a pessimist, but just being real.
Where were Brandon Smith and Barno?? Why did Barno not suit up?? I mean shit if the dudes that did dress play like crap, sit their asses down and let the young bucks get some run. See if they wanna bring it.
I take the 100 😆
We had em by the throat! 👊 The Browns run game was reminding me of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart back when we used to have Double Trouble! Baker is still learning our playbook and play style 100%…..I hope people give this guy a few games before they start throwing rocks ✊ Keep Pounding
I agree with everything you said. I really don't think Matt Rhule is a good leader of men. Keep trying to give him the benefit of the doubt but WTF. I don't feel that hypeness on the field. Especially on defense.
Listen Here Guys,
Yall only lost by a 58 yard FG,
If the FG was missed its a different song!
Don't like the blown coverage argument. Mayfield identified it within 3 seconds and made the throw.
I still trying to keep a positive attitude, jacoby is def underrated and to keep up with the browns is good because the browns are a nasty team
Literally Jaycee horn third-fourth game in the nfl people seem to forget that
defense sucked ..couldn't stop the run… zero pass rush
fan base???? stadium was far from full and over a third of the fans there were browns fans
and before you blame the offense..they scored 24 points… way more then enough to win
I didn't believe that the run D was improved to begin with. We allowed 4.7 ypc in the pre-season to scrubs. CMac needs touches but "strategic" touches tho. 22-25 carries a game is too much for him. His body is telling us all that he can't handle it regardless of how much rest he gets in the off-season. Can't run him like Cleveland did Chubb. I'd Limit him to 8 carries a game. Use Foreman for the bulk carries. DJ should not have more carries than Foreman ever. But CMac is such a gifted receiver outta the backfield, I think he's worth 12 targets a game in the pass game. Not talking checkdowns, actual routes where CMac is your 1st read. As for Baker, that's y'all QB. Lol. Never wanted him in Carolina to begin with. Nuff said.
Baker had the most pressures of any qb week 1 so that oline better get better
Love the spot-on commentary sir. If Watson had played, this game would’ve been a blowout. And the clock is ticking on Matt Rhule’s time here.
Donte Jackson is the reason we lost
I am a lifelong Browns fan that is now join the Panthers fan base think they will be OK honestly need Bozeman back at Center got to see Pat FYM a lot at Ohio State he is middle of the road defense looked awfully soft love your channel love your take have subscribed no more peep peep
Baker put up enough points to win the game. He didn’t get enough practice with the 1’s in training camp! He has only been with the team since July but adjusted and got us back into the game and all the defense had to do was keep it clean! The Browns have the best pulling guards and backs in the league. We got to tackle better! I would take Baker any day!
Subtract those 2 throws and Baker threw for under 100 yards. He's an average QB and inconsistent, if he was still on the Browns we're still a playoff but that's it, we want a Super Bowl, that's why you got him. If you like being average, that's on you , we want more and that's why we got Deshaun, watch what happens, Dawgs gotta eat
In spite of the Offensive Line woes, the muffed snaps, the fumbles, the deflected passes, sacks, turnovers and 3rd and longs, they nearly pulled off a win… AND considering they played against a top 10 Defense and the BEST running game in the NFL, AND a team motivated to beat Baker… What went right? The Panthers Defense hung in there, never quit. even though they were on the field for over 38mins. Baker made a few good to great plays that flipped the score in a hurry in the 4th.
If this were a boxing match, you'd have an undersized fighter getting battered by a brute, nearly knocked out, just trying to survive by holding and jabbing, until finally getting their feet and nearly knocking out the brute, only to get outscored in the final round.
Terrible analogy maybe, but I think this essentially looked like a preseason game… and I'm confident they'll perform far better next week. It was a wild week! A similar situation played out with the Seahawks and the Bronocs, with Geno playing the role of Jacoby Brisssett.
Browns fan How you like Ward and Newsome! Big Katt!
Yeah, we lost, but I'd be way more concerned if the flow of play was reversed.
As it was we started cold then put it together towards the finish line.
That's far better than starting fast and falling apart.
Fun fact- Bakers buddy who he used to play with on the browns who is now on the panthers with him NEVER got in the game. WHY???? I can't remember the dudes name right now.