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The Carolina Panthers Week 1 contest to open the 2023 season is arriving with a sense of hope. After drafting Bryce Young with the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Panthers have a player worth building around, and they will be looking for the rest of their team to grow around him. With Carolina facing off against the Atlanta Falcons to open their season, it's time to unveil our Panthers Week 1 predictions.
The Panthers endured a rocky 2022 campaign, although their 7-10 record was still good for second place in the putrid NFC South. Head coach Matt Rhule was fired after just five games, and the rotating cast of quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and P.J. Walker made it tough for Carolina to establish any sort of consistency.
The Panthers are a young team on both sides of the ball, which will likely make the 2023 campaign a rebuilding season. However, they play in the NFC South, where no team really stands out from the rest, and going up against a Falcons team in a similar spot as them could help the Panthers kick off their season with a win. So with Week 1 quickly approaching, let's look at three bold Panthers Week 1 predictions for their upcoming game against the Falcons.
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3. Panthers' EDGE Brian Burns will pick up a pair of sacks
If the Panthers have a de facto star on their roster, it's EDGE defender Brian Burns. Burns has turned himself into one of the most dominant pass rushers in the game, and he is coming off the best season of his career in 2022 (63 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 17 TFL, 22 QB Hits, 3 PD, 1 FF) that saw him earn his second straight Pro Bowl selection.
Burns' contract situation with the Panthers has drawn a lot of attention throughout training camp, but he hasn't seemed too interested in rushing into a new deal with Carolina to this point. There's a chance that Burns won't be on the field for this game against the Falcons, but assuming he is, he seems set to wreak havoc to open the 2023 season.
Burns missed a game last season and still set a career-high with 12.5 sacks, so there's no reason to expect him to take a step back following the best season of his career. Atlanta's offense has a ton of question marks, and that will allow Burns to sack Desmond Ridder twice in Carolina's first outing of the season.
2. Panthers' QB Bryce Young will throw for 200 yards and 2 TDs
Everyone who tunes into the Panthers contest with the Falcons will be watching how Young fares in the first game of his NFL career. Young was a star in college with the Alabama Crimson Tide, and as the number one overall pick of the 2023 draft, he will be expected to deliver early and often for Carolina under center.
Young will get a fairly favorable initial matchup against the Falcons, who have a decent secondary, but a weak pass rush. A.J. Terrell will likely wipe out one side of the field, which could make for a quiet Panthers debut for Adam Thielen, but it could open up a lot of opportunities for another rookie in Jonathan Mingo.
With a solid checkdown option in Miles Sanders, Young should be able to keep the ball moving in the air against the Falcons in this one. He will certainly face tougher challenges as the season goes on in, but Young will have a nice debut outing against Atlanta that will see him throw for 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns when all is said and done.
1. The Panthers will pick up a 24-17 season-opening victory over the Falcons
The Panthers and Falcons are both rebuilding squads who have a lot of question marks on their roster heading into Week 1 of the 2023 campaign. That should make this season-opening battle a fairly close one, with neither team really possessing game-breaking talent that could make the game a blowout.
Young will fire a pair of touchdowns to Mingo and Hayden Hurst, while Sanders will rush for the third touchdown in his Carolina debut. Ridder will struggle with the pressure from Burns and company on the day, but Bijan Robinson has an explosive debut for the Falcons, scoring both of the Falcons touchdowns, with one being rushing, and one being receiving.
Young will do enough to keep the Panthers ahead of the Falcons in this game, and Ridder will end the game with a desperation heave that gets picked off by Vonn Bell. It will be an encouraging start to the season for the Panthers, but they will quickly find themselves facing bigger challenges in upcoming weeks.
