"The Carolina Panthers had a season-high rushing day, and probably re-established the natural order of their depth chart in Sunday's 24-23 loss to Cleveland.

Mike Goodson started after recording back-to-back 100-yard games in the injury absence of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, but it was Stewart who posted the big numbers, the kind that will likely earn him his job back.

Stewart finished with a season-high 98 yards on 12 carries, and Goodson added 55 yards on 14 attempts and scored his first career touchdown. The 151 team rushing yards were the highest of the season by 24 yards, even though it's below last year's per-game average (156.1).

The Panthers have only topped 100 rushing yards as a team in six games all season, and they're averaging 101.4 per game. Getting Stewart back after he missed two weeks with a concussion was a key in a game played near the line of scrimmage, as his physical style was evident on a number of inside-out runs.

"It was good to have Jonathan back out there," Panthers coach John Fox said. "He had a couple of heavy runs and moved behind the pads pretty well. It was good to have that one-two punch out there."

Fox acknowledged he didn't think it was right to take the job away from Goodson, saying: "It's been his ball for the last couple weeks, and I didn't think it was time to take it away from him."

The Browns built an early lead in part because of the Panthers' penchant for third-down penalties. Cleveland's first two touchdowns were directly set up by penalties on Sherrod Martin (unnecessary roughness), Chris Gamble (holding) and Charles Johnson (roughing the passer).

Martin was flagged when he jarred the ball loose from tight end Evan Moore on a third-and-19 pass near the goal line.

"Everybody told me they thought it was a clean hit," Martin said. "Actually, I was going for the ball first and he was on his way down. I don't know what more they want me to do, besides when I'm trying to make the tackle, he's going down and I'm going down."

Martin was fined $5,000 by the league for a helmet-to-helmet hit on New York Giants tight end Kevin Boss in the opener, and he's likely in line for another, larger fine based on his repeat offender status."