CLEVELAND — The Browns improved to 2-1 Sunday with a 21-18 win over Carolina, but this was another game that required Cleveland to survive its own mistakes.
The defense was once again the biggest reason the Browns had a chance to win. Cleveland pressured Bryce Young throughout the afternoon, came up with multiple critical stops and finished the game with Ronnie Hickman’s interception in the final seconds.
There was plenty of good, plenty of bad and, fortunately for Cleveland, most of the ugly belonged to Carolina’s offense.
The Good: Mason Graham
Mason Graham is becoming a problem.
Graham finished with a career-high two sacks, seven tackles, three tackles for loss and two quarterback hits, consistently creating pressure from the interior of Cleveland’s defensive line. He now has a sack in each of the Browns’ first three games and four on the season.
His first sack came on fourth-and-3 in the second quarter, when he dropped Young for a 10-yard loss and ended a Carolina drive near midfield. His second came with 1:34 remaining and the Browns protecting a three-point lead, pushing the Panthers into fourth-and-16 on their final meaningful possession.
For an interior defensive lineman, that type of disruption changes an offense. Young rarely looked comfortable when Cleveland was able to generate pressure with its front four, and Graham was at the center of much of it.
Three weeks into the season, the Browns appear to have another legitimate difference-maker on the defensive line.
The Bad: Miscues
The Browns won, but like last week, they certainly did not make it easy on themselves.
Cleveland was penalized 12 times for 85 yards and lost a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half. Malachi Corley’s fumble immediately gave Carolina the ball at the Browns’ 30, although the defense limited the damage to a field goal.
The penalties were almost as damaging. Cleveland repeatedly wiped out positive plays, created longer down-and-distance situations and gave Carolina free yardage. The Browns were flagged for false starts, holding, illegal formations and multiple defensive penalties over the course of the afternoon.
The good news is Cleveland overcame all of it. The bad news is that 12 penalties and a special-teams turnover are exactly the kind of mistakes that eventually cost a team a game against better competition.
Winning ugly is still winning, but the Browns cannot keep making the path this difficult.
The Ugly: Carolina on Fourth Down
Carolina finished with 359 yards, 24 first downs and nearly 30 minutes of possession. The Panthers also went 0-for-3 on fourth down.
That is where Cleveland’s defense made the afternoon ugly for Carolina.
The first failure came in the second quarter when Graham buried Young for a 10-yard loss on fourth-and-3. Carolina later failed again on fourth down, and the final one came during the Panthers’ late attempt to answer Cleveland’s go-ahead touchdown.
Carolina also reached the red zone three times and scored only one touchdown. For all the yardage the Panthers accumulated between the 20s, Cleveland consistently tightened when the field became shorter.
The Panthers moved the football. The Browns simply refused to let them finish often enough.
And for the second straight week, that was enough.
