Both lineups were thin before kickoff, and the reports only got worse once play started. Cleveland played without center Parker Brailsford, guard Teven Jenkins and cornerback Tyson Campbell, which put Mekhi Blackmon in the starting lineup at outside corner. Carolina already had Devin Lloyd, Nick Scott, Xavier Legette and Cam Jackson inactive. During the game it lost more: Jalen Coker hurt his quad and did not return, corner Mike Jackson was ruled out for the rest of the day with a groin injury, and guard Damien Lewis was questionable to return with an elbow injury. Carolina was the road favorite, and it goes home 1-2.
Cleveland set up the win in the second quarter, scoring 10 points while Carolina managed only a field goal. The Panthers' defense then shut the Browns out in the third, and 2 more scores for Carolina cut the lead to 10-9 heading into the fourth. This was the version of the Carolina defense that showed up in Atlanta, not the one that gave up 59 to Chicago, and it had just about pulled the Panthers even.
The fourth quarter made up almost half the game's scoring. Cleveland put up 11 points and Carolina put up 9, and the Browns never gave back the lead they needed at the end. Carolina's 9 points in that quarter tell you drives stalled short of the end zone. The Panthers kept getting close and only got partial credit for it. Against a Cleveland secondary missing Campbell, that's the part Carolina will think about on the flight home, especially with Coker already out of the game.
The preview's lingering question was whether Carolina's defense had actually turned a corner or just had 1 good week against Atlanta. The answer lands somewhere in the middle. 21 points allowed on the road without Lloyd and Scott, plus a scoreless third quarter, is a real performance. That kind of game should have been enough for an offense that averaged 35 over its first 2 weeks. For Cleveland, the talk about benching Watson goes quiet for another week, and a patched-up interior line got through a close game. It was 68 and clear at kickoff with no weather to blame, and the game still stayed under 40 total points.