The Carolina Panthers came into Week 3 with the No. 1-ranked passing offense (312.5 ypg) and the No.2 scoring offense (35.5 ppg) in the league.
They also came into the week missing Devin Lloyd, the reigning NFC defensive player of the week. Theoretically, however, Carolina’s offense should be enough to walk out of Huntington Bank Field with a W.
Defensively, the Cleveland Browns were vulnerable. Their aggressive man coverage schemes, while well-meaning, have produced a defense that’s ranked 25th.
Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg cooked up a scheme that made the game ugly, and it worked. He took away the Panthers’ vertical attack. While Bryce Young threw for 291 yards, he had to earn every last bit of them.
Here are more observations from the Panthers’ 21-18 Week 3 loss.
4th and None
On three different drives, the Panthers’ offense tried to build momentum by going for it on 4th-and-short. In each situation, the Panthers turned the ball over on downs.
Cleveland forced the turnovers on these drives by squeezing the box with their condensed sets. The Browns choked the inside gaps and clogged the interior running lanes, and prevented the Panthers’ O-line from getting clean blocking angles.
The Browns’ condensed alignment exposed the Panthers’ struggling run game. Without a solid rush offense, opposing defenses can use variations of this front to strip away the illusion of balance and dare the Panthers to run.
Zoned Out
Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker were held to a combined four catches for 35 yards, because the Browns moved from an aggressive man-to-man coverage to hybrid deep-zone shells.
Rather than matching corners on the line of scrimmage, Cleveland consistently backed their secondary off into deep zone alignments. The zone prevented McMillan from using his size and speed to ‘stack’ defenders.
Denzel Ward was McMillan’s primary defender and locked him up in single coverage. However, Ward also played with leverage that allowed him to pass McMillan off to a safety. A deep safety was rotated over the top of McMillan’s routes, squeezing target windows.
Ballin’ Into The Void
When the Browns shifted to their deep two-high zone shells to bracket McMillan, they left short to intermediate areas of the field exposed. Instead of running vertical routes, Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik utilized Brycen Tremayne to attack that space with heavy slants across the middle and intermediate routes where his size and strength were advantages over Cleveland’s linebackers.
With McMillian contained, Young needed a target who could win his contested catch situations, and Tremayne was that guy. He feasted against the Brown’s backup corners, leading to a critical 31-yard gain down the stretch.
Injuries Galore
Mike Jackson and Jaycee Horn were ruled out of Sunday’s game due to injuries that they’ve sustained. Jackson left early with a groin injury, while Horn left with an injured quad. The starting corners join Lloyd, Jalen Coker, Xavier Legetter, and Nick Scott on an injury list that seems to be adding new names every day.
While their official status for Week 4 is unknown, it’s a strong possibility that the Panthers will roll into their primetime matchup with Detroit next week, missing their starting corners and their leading receiver.
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