The Cleveland Browns will play the Carolina Panthers in Week 1 of the NFL regular season at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
The Cleveland Browns were 1-2 during the preseason, defeating Jacksonville and losing to Chicago and Philadelphia. The Browns will start Jacoby Brissett at quarterback on Sunday with Deshaun Watson suspended. Brissett has been decent in his career and has shown he is capable of winning a few games, but he is not a star quarterback by any means. The Browns will rely on their run game in this matchup, led by Nick Chubb. Cleveland had a solid defense last season and should be strong on that side of the ball again this year.
The Carolina Panthers were 2-1 during this preseason, losing to New England and defeating Buffalo and Washington. Carolina will start Baker Mayfield under center in this contest and I am sure Mayfield will be looking to make a statement against his former team. The Panthers will rely on Christian McCaffrey, who is a very dangerous player if he can stay healthy. The Carolina offense was one of the worst in the league last season and they will be looking to turn things around against a good Browns defense. The Carolina defense didn’t have the best numbers last season, but they were put in tough positions by their offense nearly every game.
Cleveland is 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games and 6-15-1 ATS in their last 22 Week 1 games. The under is 4-0 in Cleveland’s last 4 games. Carolina is 7-19-1 ATS in their last 27 home games and 2-12 ATS in their last 14 games. The under is 7-3 in Carolina’s last 10 Week 1 games. The under is 4-1 in these two teams last 5 head to head meetings.
This has all the makings of a low scoring, defensive game as Cleveland is going to try and slow the game down with their backup quarterback in. Carolina is in a good spot here in my opinion. Baker Mayfield is going to be fired up to play against Cleveland, the Panthers are at home, and Christian McCaffrey relatively healthy. I like the Panthers to win at home, but will take the point.