Mason Graham excels in pass rush in Browns’ win over the Panthers | 3 Big Takeaways
Defense makes key stops on final two drives to seal win
Alongside Graham bringing down Young twice, the Browns’ defense as a whole made key plays and defensive stops to help secure the win. They pressured Young and forced him into incompletions and tough decisions throughout the course of the game. Young completed 26 of 28 passing attempts for 291 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He took three total sacks for a loss of 29 yards.
DE Isaiah McGuire added the third sack with 37 seconds left in the first half as be brought down Young for a loss of 13 yards and forced the Panthers to settle for a field goal before halftime.
“I feel like that was our main thing,” Graham said. “Earlier in the past two games, he was sitting in the pocket. No one was really touching him, and he was able to tee off on defenses. That was a big emphasis for us to get back there on motion four and just do what we do.”
Then, the Browns’ defense was back in a position in which they pride themselves in taking the field late in games and needing to get the stop. The Panthers’ offense took the field with 1:48 left in the game down three points, looking to drive down the field and into scoring position. However, after an incompletion, a short pass to RB Chuba Hubbard for no gain as LB Quincy Williams forced Hubbard out of bounds and a sack for a loss of six yards by Graham, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-16 situation. They went for it, as Young connected with TE Darren Waller for an eight-yard gain, but turned the ball over on downs.
The Panthers had one last shot with 1:01 left in the game for a walk off score. Young connected with Waller for an 11-yard gain followed by an incomplete pass. Then a false start pushed Carolina back to the 28-yard line. On second down, Young looked deep to try and move the chains, and connected with WR Brycen Tremayne for 20 yards, brought down by LB Carson Schwesinger. Young then looked deep to connect with WR David Moore, but Young faced pressure from DE Derek Barnett who recorded a quarterback hit and the pass was incomplete.
On third down, Young looked once again downfield and as he faced pressure from McGuire, he threw a pass intended for Waller. But the ball was tipped by Barrnett and intercepted by Hickman – sealing the victory for the Browns.
“The ball was in the air for a minute and when the ball is in the air for that long, things can go wrong. So, I was just making sure I was able to catch it,” Hickman said. “I don’t know if it hit his arm or hit him, but it caused the ball to float in the air a little bit. So, once I saw it in the air, it was coming right to me.”