There's only three things you can count on in life. Death, taxes, and the Browns having a shitty offensive line.
Thanks to poor blocking, more suspect play calling, and three more crushing Charlie Frye turnovers ... the Browns fell 20-12 to Carolina to drop to 1-4 on the season heading into their week six bye week.
Frye was once again under siege all day, and under constant harrassment from Panthers All-Pro defensive end Julius Peppers. Peppers simply had his way with Browns right tackle Ryan Tucker all afternoon, knocking Frye down seven different times, forcing a fumble on one of those knockdowns. The Browns were also only able to muster 91 yards on the ground, and ignored Jerome Harrison all day after an early 12 yard run. Instead, they continued to pound Reuben Droughns, who was clearly still injured, into the ground all afternoon. Droughns had one nice 22 yard run, and was held to 43 yards on 17 carries over the rest of the afternoon.
And it wouldn't be a Browns loss without more hijinks from the soon to be unemployed Maurice Carthon, who may be the most incompetent offensive coordinator I've ever seen at any level of organized football. Carthon once again had Kellen Winslow off the field on third down plays, and actually called a fullback pass on 3rd and one inside the Panther red zone. The Browns were called for holding on the play, turning a 3rd and inches into 3rd and 11. For the glass is half full crowd, the penalty took the spotlight off the fact that fullback Lawrence Vickers threw the ball into triple coverage.
Frye lost the aforementioned fumble, and threw two interceptions. One was his fault, the other wasn't ... but both were backbreakers. With the Browns up 3-0 early, and with the ball back, Frye threw a bubble screen to Dennis Northcutt. Dropcutt, looking upfield, saw the ball bounce off his hands and into the hands of Panthers defender Richard Marshall, who raced into the endzone untouched ... giving the Panthers an early lead they would not relinquish. Frye's second interception came as the team was driving in the fourth quarter, still very much in the game. Mike Minter ran under a terribly thrown ball, effectively ending the game in the process.
The loss spolied a very solid effort from the defense, who held the Panthers to 0-10 on third down conversions. Despite playing without Gary Baxter, Leigh Bodden, and Daylon McCutcheon, the pathcwork secondary hung in there nicely against the Panthers talented recieving corps.