Deshaun Watson’s late-game heroics and Mason Graham’s historic defensive surge masked a chaotic, penalty-ridden performance by the offensive line to secure a gritty home-opening victory over Carolina.
In a rare scheduling quirk, the Cleveland Browns home opener was delayed a few weeks, as the team spent the first two weeks on the road in Florida. But they returned home off an emotional win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and gave fans plenty of reason to pack Huntington Bank Field to support their hometown Browns.
It helped that Deshaun Watson had played well too, and his performance was enough to keep the boos to a minimum against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. And despite some ugly moments for the offense, like a third quarter that saw Cleveland account for just 8 yards of total offense, Watson willed the Browns to victory once again, upsetting the high octane Panthers 21-18 to improve to 2-1.
Here's what we learned about Todd Monken's team this week:
1) The Mason Graham breakout season is real
There were plenty of signs during training camp that Mason Graham was poised for a big season in year two. It's come to fruition in these first three games. Graham grabbed his third sack of the season on a key fourth-down stop with 8:38 to go in the second quarter that halted a promising Panthers drive near mid-field.
He now has three sacks in three games, and he's the first player to record a sack in each of his first three games of a season since Myles Garrett did in in 2019. He added a fourth sack in the fourth quarter just to put a cherry on top. Could Myles Garrett's sack crown be in jeopardy?
2) The O-line is still a mess
The major question facing the o-line was always did the Browns actually fix the group, or did they just address it? Through three games, it's still a work in progress. The Browns longest drive of the game was a bizarre, 13-play, 55-yard drive that ate up 8:55 of game time and ended in a punt, thanks to five different offensive penalties.
The list of flags included an illegal formation because Blake Whiteheart lined up too far back from the line of scrimmage and left Tytus Howard uncovered. A false start by Austin Barber. Two false starts by Howard and a holding by Spencer Fano.
In total the Browns had 12 penalties on the day and most of them were against the o-line and the offense. Even when the offense is moving, the o-line just can't get out of its own way right now, and that's on top of the general inconsistencies blocking in the run game.
3) Todd Monken has some cajones
To no one's surprise, Monken is fearless when it comes to going for it on fourth down and he flexed that aggressiveness a few times on Sunday. The big one came on 4th-and-goal late in the second quarter with Cleveland up 3-0 but looking to add to its lead.
Monken drew up a perfect play call for the score, sending some pre-snap motion from right to left, then having the play flow to the left side, while Harold Fannin Jr. slipped behind the defense along the back of the end zone on an over route from the left side to the right.
Deshaun Watson had plenty of time to throw and found Fannin wide open for the score to push the lead to 10-0 at the time. These are situations where Monken's offensive prowess will be an advantage for the Browns.
4) Deshaun Watson still isn't good, but also still isn't bad
The Alonso Mourning gif would be fitting here. Watson wasn't great and the offense was ugly for three quarters on Sunday. Going into the fourth quarter, Browns wide receivers had one reception total. That's not a typo. He ultimately finished the game, 16-of-30 for 144 yards and two touchdowns, which is a funky stat line.
To his credit, though, when the Browns needed him, he stepped up. That included leading an 8-play, 65-yard touchdown drive with 4:25 to go in the game, completing 4-of-6 passes including a game-winning TD to Fannin Jr. He also converted the two-point conversion as well to give Cleveland a three-point lead that the defense protected twice to secure the win.
Weird or not, he got the win and showed up in the fourth quarter, AGAIN. The offense is still massively limited with him, but he's delivered in crunch time.
5) Week 1 was an anomaly for the defense
Listen, this Panthers offense came in as one of the hottest units in football, averaging the second most points in the NFL per game. And the Browns held them to just 18 in Week 3.
One of the biggest reasons for that was the front four. Cleveland's pass rush had Bryce Young in feeling pressure all day, so much so that even on the plays he wasn't feeling pressured, he looked off balance and was throwing off target quite a bit. He entered this game leading the league in passing entering Sunday and left Huntington Bank Field 26-of-48, 290 yards a touchdow and an interception.
6) Like their coach, these Browns are gritty as hell
One of the biggest tasks Monken has in taking this job was to build an attitude and a culture in Cleveland and if these last two weeks are any indication, his personality is taking hold already.
Despite how young this team is. How inconsistent things look, particularly on offense at times, when the pressure has ramped up in each of the last two games, they've found a way to get it done. Being unflappable in the key moments of a game is a tough thing to instill in a team and Monken has done it already. That's impressive and it goes back to the way he ran practices in the spring, the way he ran camp and his attitude rubbing off on the locker room.
