Scouting the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland's Week 3 Opponent

The Cleveland Browns (1-1) will host the Carolina Panthers (1-1) at Huntington Bank Stadium on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX. The Panthers are actually favored slightly (-2.5) by the sportsbooks, and the experts are expecting modest scoring.

Let’s do a deep dive into Cleveland’s opponent for the Week 3 matchup at home, and see if the Browns match up well, and can walk away with a victory, and a winning record, after three games. The Panthers lead the all-time series 4-3, although the Browns have won the past two meetings, including a 26-20 win on Dec. 9, 2018, in Carolina’s most recent visit to Cleveland.

Carolina’s Offense has Been a Juggernaut

The Cleveland Browns defense will need all-hands-on-deck, as the Carolina Panthers offense produced 37 points, 478 total yards and 24 first downs in a 59-37 loss to the Chicago Bears at Bank of America Stadium in the opening weekend. The Panthers were able to gobble up 7.7 yards per play, and they were a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone.

Carolina did turn the ball over three times in Week 1, however, including two lost fumbles and an interception, turning in a minus-2 turnover margin which contributed greatly to the loss, since they could not stop anybody defensive. The Panthers allowed 552 total yards, including 291 yards on the ground.

In Week 2, Carolina righted the ship defensively in a big way, earning a 34-3 victory on the road against the NFC South Division rival Atlanta Falcons and former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. To be fair, the Falcons were using a third-string quarterback, Cooper Rush, with Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa out, but the Panthers were still able to neutralize running back Bijan Robinson, one of the best offensive weapons in the game.

Carolina had 340 total yards of offense, including 272 yards through the air, with tight end Darren Waller resurfacing with two touchdowns from quarterback Bryce Young. Young had three touchdown strikes against Atlanta, and he is averaging 324.0 passing yards per game with six touchdowns and just one interception through two games. He also had a rushing score in Week 1.