3 teams that can’t afford to lose in NFL Week 2

2. Carolina Panthers

Week 1 ended up bringing us several games that came down to the wire and one of the more exciting ones was the showdown between the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns. It was also the debut for Baker Mayfield in Carolina, and he naturally was facing off against his old team.

Cleveland had the lead for much of the game, even heading to the final quarter with a 20-3 advantage. That’s when Mayfield led them back as they ended up taking a 24-23 lead with roughly a minute and a half left to play.

Cleveland was able to move the ball just enough to get a 58-yard field goal off and rookie Cade York delivered. It was a frustrating loss since they fought so hard to come back and it could lead to even more questions about the future of both Matt Rhule and Mayfield.

Rhule is in year three and now owns a record of 10-24. He could also take heat for sitting on the ball at the end of the game against the Browns, deciding to force them to use their timeouts rather than going for the touchdown to force Cleveland to go the length of the field to win.

For Mayfield, he went from a No. 1 overall pick in 2018 to a player that was hard to move in a trade. Cleveland had to eat roughly $8 million of his contract and Mayfield renegotiated to give the Panthers another $5 million in relief just to move him.

Now he’s in the final year of his deal and needs to prove he can be the starter — whether that’s in Carolina or elsewhere.