Panthers objected to two late calls in Browns comeback win

Defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis also thought Burns pushed Wills into Brissett, making the contact look more convincing.

“My thing is, if Burns knocks that tackle into the quarterback, that’s fair game,” Ioannidis said. “I don’t want to speak on the call. I thought it was a good rush by Burns; I thought it was a clean rush. It’s unfortunate, it has an effect. And hopefully, we get clarity on that.”

Safety Jeremy Chinn said he saw one quick replay on the scoreboard, and “it looked like he barely touched him, it looked like the offensive lineman was pushed into him.”

“But I’m not going to say it’s deflating because as a defensive mind, it’s always, ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next.’ But it definitely hurt us, for sure,” Chinn continued. “Those are situations we practice a lot, but any time you give them yards, that’s tough.”

The Browns moved the ball another 20 yards, setting up rookie kicker Cade York’s 58-yard field goal.

But there was another call that Rhule thought was going to change the outcome.

With 13 seconds left, Brissett appeared to step back and pump-fake before spiking the ball. Spikes have to be immediate, or else they’re subject to being flagged for intentional grounding. That would have also caused a 10-second run-off, and the Browns would have had to throw a Hail Mary or another play.

“I started screaming, intentional grounding, 10-second runoff, the game’s about to be over,” Rhule said. “They obviously called it and changed it, and then it was told to me that he just pump-faked. . . .

“A lot of things at the end didn’t go our way.”