3 takeaways from the 'Baker Bowl' as the Cleveland Browns snatch late victory against the Carolina Panthers

Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield welcomed his old franchise, the Cleveland Browns, to his new home in Week 1. The Browns escaped with a narrow 26-24 win from the highly anticipated revenge game dubbed the 'Baker Bowl.'

Here are my three biggest takeaways from the Panthers-Browns game:

#1. The Browns' running game is still elite

Cleveland Browns v Carolina Panthers

I still have legit concerns about this Cleveland passing attack. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett went 18-of-34 for just 147 yards and a touchdown, with Kareem Hunt being the second-leading receiver (behind Donovan Peoples-Jones) with just 24 yards on the day. I don’t yet know what to make of that area of the team, outside of a few lay-ups that they can draw up off play-action.

With that being said, there is no question about the ground game, where the three guys not named Brissett accounted for 207 rushing yards on 35 carries. Kevin Stefanski has made them a diverse attack conceptually, from calling simple split zone to taking advantage of what their guards can bring on the move, wrapping around and creating big lanes on kick-out blocks as linebackers have to replace on the edge and get leveled from the side.

You combine that with their two-headed super-backfield of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, who both bring speed and power to the table in different proportions. They are also are different in the way they set up blocking, as Chubb bleeds out runs more, while Hunt typically hits holes hard. With what I saw in Week 1, I believe they could have the number one rushing attack in the league. They are currently second with 217 yards on the ground (behind only the New York Giants, who were boosted by a 68-yarder from Saquon Barkley).

#2. Carolina have to put the ball in their offensive play-makers' hands in space

Cleveland Browns v Carolina Panthers

Head coach Matt Rhule will need to get on the winning side of things soon if he wants to keep his job. We’ll have to see them continue to grow as a coaching staff, since that’s the group that largely put these things together. Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo is now a part of it too.

They did put up 24 points and were only a 58-yard field goal away from winning the game. But outside of that 50-yard completion to Ian Thomas (where he ran by himself on a streak due to a coverage bust), they had just 40 additional yards of offense through the first 43 minutes. And let’s look at the stat-lines of their key offensive contributors.

Christian McCaffrey carried the ball just ten times for 33 yards, with a longest of nine, along with four catches for 24 yards (21 of those on one screen pass). D.J. Moore hauled in three of his six targets for 43 yards, plus another seven yards on an end-around. They did have a 75-yard TD by Robbie Anderson on a post route where the Browns were in match-quarters and there was some miscommunication (where the safety to his side drove down on a deep out route, while Anderson basically split his corner and the opposite side). So if you take away those two long plays on busted coverages, Baker Mayfield had just 110 yards on his 25 other attempts on the day.

#3. On a bad day for kickers across the league, Cleveland’s fourth-round pick Cade York delivered

Cleveland Browns v Carolina Panthers

I mean, what else is there to say? The Broncos going for a 64-yard field goal at the end of their Monday Night game in Seattle caused public outcry over that decision, but York’s game-winning kick would have been good from that distance. Instead, he banged in a 58-yarder with just eight seconds left (after Carolina had just driven down to take their first lead of the game on a field goal) to give us our final score of 26-24.

I - among many others - questioned drafting a kicker in the fourth round, when he was the only one selected altogether this year, but he’s already helped win them a game. This was on a day where the NFL went 49-of-60 on field goal attempts, with three separate teams missing potential game-winning kicks in overtime. If you add in three more missed PATs, you get to 14 total missed kicks, which sets a new league record for one week (and seven of those came from 35 yards or less).

So seeing the rookie bang in all four of his, plus two PATs, was certainly refreshing.

Check out my piece on the full week one slate at halilsrealfootballtalk.com !