The question going forward will be whether he can do it consistently.
Seven days after the New Orleans Saints held him to 124 yards, Young completed 31 of 45 passes for a franchise-record 448 yards and three touchdowns to lead Carolina to a 30-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons that brought the Panthers (6-5) within a half-game of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were in first place in the NFC South.
Advertisement
Entering Sunday’s game, Young had only eclipsed 200 yards passing in one of his nine previous starts this season.
Panthers coach Dave Canales said after the 17-7 loss to the then-one-win Saints that the Panthers had to figure things out in the passing game and how to get bigger plays.
They did it on Sunday.
Canales felt that this type of play was coming from his team.
“I’m seeing the improvement in practice, I’m seeing the chemistry,” Canales said. “For some reason, that hasn’t shown up in the game. We found a great rhythm today. It’s not always pretty and there were some dirty pockets, but the offensive line did an admirable job of giving Bryce time, and Bryce bought himself a little time to find guys on the field. It only takes a couple of plays, and the guys feel the juice and the confidence to continue.”
Advertisement
Rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan admitted the offense could feel the increasing pressure of poor numbers in the passing game.
“Bryce and our entire offense got a lot of backlash last week because of, obviously, the passing yards,” McMillan said. “But everyone in the locker room knew this was going to happen. We knew we had it in our bag, and specifically Bryce. But I mean, Bryce went out there and hit it for sure.”
Young, who had five total touchdowns in last season’s game in Atlanta, said the Panthers need to play well in the passing game more consistently starting Monday night in San Francisco.
“We all know what we’re capable of. We’ve got the guys and we know we have to be balanced, too,” Young said. “The coaching staff today did a great job of giving us opportunities, of planning things. Again, it’s not one player. It’s not one person. It’s all of us. The credit goes to them, to the guys around me and then we have to earn the right to be consistent.”
Advertisement
What is working?
The Panthers did a better job of involving the tight ends more in the offense.
Tommy Tremble had a huge 54-yard catch-and-run in overtime to set up Ryan Fitzgerald’s third game-winning field goal of the season, Ja’Tavion Sanders added four catches for 22 yards and Mitchell Evans added two catches for 28 yards. For a Panthers team that often seems to view its tight ends as an afterthought, that’s a big day of production.
“You love to see the tight ends get involved and (slot receiver Jalen (Coker) make a couple plays too, because the field starts to tilt when T-Mac (McMillan) plays as well as he has,” Canales said. “Today we felt like it was a balanced deal, where Bryce had options and different places to go.”
Advertisement
What needs help?
Tackle. The run defense struggled against the Falcons, with Bijan Robinson rushing for 104 yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers have had trouble stopping Robinson and Sunday was no exception as he found several holes, particularly running outside.
Robinson did most of his damage in the first half with 93 rushing yards as Atlanta built a 21-7 lead. He was limited to 9 yards in the second half.
“Long story short, it was a first-half tackle, and Bijan really took off,” Canales said. “We had guys in position, and he made us miss a couple of times. That’s where we have to have the whole group rally towards the ball so that if someone misses, someone is there to pick it up. He got a lot of extra yards that way. Playing the little details, all those things, was what we talked about in the half.”
Advertisement
Supply
Tetairoa McMillan. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 draft has the third-best odds to win the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, according to BetMGM after catching eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons. It was McMillan’s second two-TD game of the season, having previously reached the mark against the Dallas Cowboys. McMillan has 54 catches for 748 yards and four touchdowns despite having to spend his entire rookie season as the team’s No. 1 wide receiver and drawing most of the opposing defense’s attention.
Stock down
Secondary Panthers. A week after the Panthers struggled to stop New Orleans’ Chris Olave, the Panthers allowed another 100-yard receiver in Drake London. Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn had a defensive call that led to an Atlanta touchdown.
Advertisement
Injuries
Young injured his ankle early in Sunday’s game, but was able to re-tape it and return to have a career game. It remains to be seen if that ankle, which kept him out of the game against Buffalo a few weeks ago, will cause him more problems in the future. “I was dealing with some things,” Canales said. “His ankle would swell up a couple of times and they looked at it, and made sure everything was structurally okay. At that point, it was just a matter of pain tolerance, and they gutted it.” …Linebacker Christian Rozeboom left the game with a hamstring injury, leaving the Panthers weak at linebacker.
Key number
100 – Yards from scrimmage by running back Rico Dowdle on 24 touches, putting him over 1,000 yards from scrimmage for the season.
Advertisement
Next steps
The Panthers will play their only game of the season on Monday night when they face their former star running back Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL