CLEVELAND — Todd Monken turned the Browns baseball cap backward for his postgame news conference.
The 60-year-old coach wasn’t turning back the clock 45 years. He was giving a public nod to defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg, who wears his hat that way.
“Hats off to the defense,” Monken said Sunday after a 21-18 win over the Carolina Panthers. “Our defense played their a** off, really did.”
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The defense was dominant early. The Panthers scored 71 points in their first two games but didn’t score until a field goal with 27 seconds left in the first half. The Browns harassed quarterback Bryce Young and held Chuba Hubbard to 18 yards on 10 rushes in the first half.
Malachi Corley fumbled the second-half kickoff, giving the Panthers a short field, then the offense went three-and-out on three straight possessions. The defense held the Panthers to three more field goals before wearing down and finally giving up a six-play, 72-yard touchdown drive. Young hit John Metchie III from 8 yards for an 18-13 lead with 4:25 left in the game.
The Browns caused Hubbard to fumble on the 2-point try, meaning a touchdown would put Cleveland back in front. Deshaun Watson obliged with a 14-yard pass to Harold Fannin Jr. with 1:48 left. A 2-point pass to rookie Denzel Boston gave the Browns a three-point lead.
The defense’s work wasn’t done.
Not even close.
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It got a quick four-and-out after defensive tackle Mason Graham sacked Young on third down and the pressure forced him to throw short on fourth.
But the Browns were stuffed on two straight runs, and an illegal formation penalty stopped the clock, giving the Panthers extra time despite being out of timeouts. Monken went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Carolina 15 rather than kick a field goal for a six-point lead. Quinshon Judkins was dropped for a 2-yard loss, and the Panthers took over with 1:01 left needing only a field goal to tie.
They reached their 42 before safety Ronnie Hickman made the sealing interception with nine seconds left. End Derek Barnett got to Young as he threw, and the ball wobbled and floated to Hickman.
“Once I seen it in the air, it looked like it was coming right to me,” Hickman said. “But normally when it’s in the air for that long, things can go wrong. So I was just glad I was able to come down with it and hold on.”
The defense also got a huge stop last week, after a two-hour, 12-minute rain delay, to secure the win over the Buccaneers.
“Anytime it’s on us, we want it that way,” Hickman said.
Graham led the way with two sacks, seven tackles and three for loss. He has four sacks in three games after finishing with only a half-sack as a rookie last year. He was the No. 5 pick in the draft.
Browns DT Mason Graham said defense brought “60 minutes of hell.” pic.twitter.com/5xDpZaSA28
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) September 27, 2026
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“Something we preached all week was we’re going to (give) 60 minutes of hell,” he said. “That’s something Coach Rudy came to us early in the week with that motto. So we kind of just played 60 minutes, and we needed to play 60 minutes today.”
Rutenberg borrowed the slogan from coach Nolan Richardson and the national champion Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team of the 1990s.
Young, a former No. 1 overall pick, came into the game second in the league in passing. The Browns sacked him three times — end Isaiah McGuire got the other — hit him eight times and broke up five passes. Young went 26-for-48 for 291 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a 70.7 passer rating.
The Browns moved around end Jared Verse (three tackles, quarterback hit), including off the ball in the middle of the line as a rusher, and even had Graham line up at end.
“It’s to get their keys a little bit different, get them messed up, get them a little bit flustered,” said Verse, who’s still looking for his first sack with the Browns after being acquired in the Myles Garrett trade. “With me, I’m just running, cause havoc.”
“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,” Graham said of Young. “That was a big emphasis for us to get back there, rushing forward and just doing what we do.”
Graham is the first Browns player since Garrett in 2019 to have a sack in each of the first three games. He’s the first defensive tackle in the NFL to record a sack in each of the first three games since Chicago’s Akiem Hicks in 2020.
Graham wasn’t alone. Cornerback Denzel Ward helped lock down the backend, and linebacker Quincy Williams was everywhere, finishing with a game-high nine tackles, one for loss, and a quarterback hit.
“We played to our standard,” he said. “We felt like the first week, then last week was an introduction to what we can look like. And then today it felt like we doubled down on that.”
Williams downplayed his role.
“Really just leading by example,” he said. “And if our standard going to be playing fast and playing violent, lead by doing that, then hoping that the rest of the team follow through.”
Browns LB Quincy Williams on performance of defense. pic.twitter.com/P1RhwclVLi
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) September 28, 2026
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