CHARLOTTE — The run game opens up the passing game. Even the most dynamic passing attacks need to be able to lean on a run game at times, both to keep defenses honest, provide a spell, and spread everything out sideline to sideline.

The Panthers' offense has been looking for their run game to open up in the first three weeks of the 2026 season. In Week 2, and even Week 1 to an extent, Bryce Young and the offense were able to operate well through the air.

But despite Young going 26-of-48 against the Browns, throwing for 291 yards and a touchdown (plus an interception at the end of the game), the rushing attack only added 98 yards on 23 attempts in Sunday's loss at Cleveland.

Through three weeks, they're 21st in the league in rushing (after Sunday's games), averaging 97.0 yards per game.

Every rushing attack starts up front, and on the offensive line, they are searching for answers.

"I can't really say," admitted right guard Robert Hunt as to the issue. "I think we all just got to do a better job. I think we just — kind of hate to say it but — like (we're) one man off every time. That could be from me to anybody else, so we always got to be on the same page.

"I think we got it clicking later on in the game, and it felt good, and it looked good, but we got to start early. We start early, it's a different ballgame."

To Hunt's point, the run game did get clicking late in the third quarter, carrying over into the fourth. After registering a mere 18 yards on the ground in the first half, Chuba Hubbard (who finished with 19 rushes for 82 yards) and AJ Dillon (four rushes for 16 yards) both picked up chunk yardage on respective drives to put the Panthers in field goal range, which Ryan Fitzgerald cashed in on.

Then, Hubbard had three straight touches for 30 total yards that helped put Carolina just outside the red zone. A couple of chunk yardage passes later, Young found John Metchie III for the Panthers' only touchdown drive of the day.

"Finally we were able to kind of settle in towards the end of the game and really the feature of that touchdown drive was the run game, the play actions, the offense that we know," said coach Dave Canales.

But, also to Hunt's point, it might have been too little too late.

"We get the run game going a little better, I guess that would look good, and that's me saying that from an O-line standpoint," said Hunt. "I mean, it's probably everybody else will have their own opinions on what they think, but, for us, I think we just get it going because it was there.

"And we saw it later on. We saw what it could look like. We just had to get it going. So we just can't be slow, man. That's kind of what happened. We started slow, but also we finished with a, . . . we tried to finish anyway, but it just didn't go our way."

Each game exists in a vacuum, and what went right or wrong in Week 1 or Week 2 is not necessarily what went wrong in Week 3. And what went wrong in Week 3 might not show itself again for the rest of the season.

But to best prepare, the Panthers have to pinpoint exactly what Cleveland did to disrupt the running game this week and compare it to what they have seen in themselves the first couple of games.

"We didn't handle the movement well up front, and it was — we're looking at it schematically and structurally; the runs looked fine, we missed some blocks up front," explained Canales of what the Browns did. "We knew the challenge of this group is that they're quick, they move at the point, they do different things, and we didn't handle that well early.

"The Browns did a great job covering us, making it challenging. Some of their rush patterns, you know, created a little bit of pressure for Bryce, so he had to get the ball out a little bit earlier than he needed to. So, some things to work on, some things to look at, but I got to give a lot of credit to those guys for executing a good plan."

Next up are the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football, then a much-needed early bye to rehab some injuries across the entire squad. In a Week 3 win over the Jets, the Lions held New York to 58 yards on the ground (though the Jets threw for 277 yards). It's a short turnaround to face a defense that features one of the best pass-rushers in the game, Aidan Hutchinson.

A running game would help. And Hunt knows that starts up front.

"We've been playing (together) a while now, and young guys have got some games under their belt, so we got to come on with it," said Hunt. "It's a long season. But you know we got to get better."