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Folks, it’s not that simple. One game doesn’t change a career path. Yes, Bryce Young impressed Baker Mayfield, but he still didn’t show enough grit to get on a fumble. And Young’s outing for the Carolina Panthers versus the Buccaneers didn’t prove he’s the team’s quarterback of the future.
First, let’s start with the best stuff. Young threw for 298 yards and led his team to a 60-yard drive that seemed to give the Panthers a 23-20 win with only 30 seconds left on the clock. However, the Buccaneers got into field goal position and eventually won the game in overtime.
Yes, Young came through in the clutch at the end of regulation and connected on a big pass to Adam Thielen in overtime. But let’s look at some other things that happened.
Panthers QB Bryce Young still has miles to go
First, Young completed only 26 of 46 passes. That’s a lot of inaccurate throws. And Young stands below 60% for his career. To be able to thrive at the quarterback position in the NFL, that number has to rise.
Plus, no matter how well Young played against the Buccaneers, he still has only six touchdown passes in seven games. Plus, he has six interceptions. The numbers simply aren’t there.
And Young himself looked at the bottom line, which came in the form of another loss, according to panthers.com.
“I mean, I'm not big on comparing, not big on looking back,” Youn said. “But I'm a competitor. We all are. It's not a fun place to be.You know, it definitely, definitely hurts. Right now we're, we're all in the moment. Tomorrow, we just have to look at it, just as we would regardless of the result, figure out what we can build and continue to do, and then figure out what we can learn from and correct. Obviously, right now, it sucks.”
Part of the problem is the little things for the entire team, head coach Dave Canales said.
“The story of the day, just we've got to control the things that we can control, we've got to make our kicks, we've got to take care of the ball at the end right there. We're in a field goal position right there to be able to win the game in overtime and just the execution, all across the board.
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“There's some good football in there, and there's some bad football, and we've got to continue to attack it, But it's just the things that we gave away.”
Bryce Young is better off than a month ago
For Young to make strides in becoming the Panthers’ future quarterback, the team will have to start winning games. And receiver Adam Thielen said there’s only one way to get there.
“You keep playing,” he replied. “You keep getting experience as a team together, same staff, a lot of the same players and you just keep figuring out how you can get better, right? Can we do better in the red zone? Can we do better getting stops? It's just complimentary football, right?
“I feel like we've done a really good job the last few weeks of playing complementary football, which we haven't done the majority of the season. So that's a good step in the right direction. But again, you just got to do that in crunch time as well.”
Canales said he likes the progress Young has made, according to yahoo.com.
“I’m just proud of Bryce for the way he’s handled everything,” Canales said. “Each week, there’s been improvement in the things he’s doing. He’s making a statement to all of us.”
Also, Young is learning how to take chances at the right time, getting the ball down the field.
“I think all of us receivers would say we want him to do more of that,” Thielen said. “He doesn’t have to be perfect. He can just go out there, play free, have fun.”
Canales said Young’s operation looked solid, according to Sports Illustrated.
“Just the operation, being decisiveness with the ball,” Canales said. “Knowing they were giving us a bunch of looks and handling the challenge of it. Studying the film throughout the week to find the voids in the different pressures and things that they brought. The decisiveness in play is what's critical at the position, and he did a great job of that today.”
