After the Carolina Panthers used the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on quarterback Bryce Young, the former Alabama All-American operated the least-productive offense in the league as a rookie.
That showing brought Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales on board as the Panthers’ head coach this offseason, and on Saturday, Young made his debut as the triggerman for the Panthers’ new attack.
Young did not play in Carolina’s first two preseason games this month, but he started at quarterback in the preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills.
Young played only one series, but he guided the Panthers 85 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown to start Carolina on its way to a 31-26 victory at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
“It was great,” Canales said. “Couldn’t have dreamt it better – a nice, long drive. Twelve plays to get the guys some good work, get them tired in the drive. A fourth-down conversion in there.
“But saw him extend plays with his legs, keeping his eyes down the field, finding guys. And you can see the carryover from practice to the game of people creating space – the play after the play. Those are the things that are so critical for us. He handled the run game with great expertise and just got us to the right runs in those situations, so I felt great about it.”
Young completed 6-of-8 passes for 70 yards on the game’s opening series.
“It felt great for all of us to go out and play against a different team in a game setting,” Young said. “We got a couple of different situations we got to have, which was great for us. But really it was fun being out there, fun competing with my team and my guys, so thought it was great for us.”
The drive concluded with Young’s 8-yard touchdown toss to tight end Jordan Matthews, a former Madison Academy standout.
“It was a good call for the coverage,” Young said. “I think they had a little miscommunication. Great job of him recognizing it, taking advantage of it with his route.”
The Panthers faced two third downs on their opening drive. One came on the touchdown, but Carolina came up short with a 3-yard completion on a third-and-6 snap at the Buffalo 49-yard line.
On the fourth-down snap, Young connected for a 17-yard gain with wide receiver Diontae Johnson, an offseason acquisition from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“There’s practice, but being able to have that in a game and there be consequences to it, I think, was great for us,” Young said. “For us as an offense to be put in that situation and overcome it and continue the drive and finish it off the way we wanted to with that first drive, I thought, was an invaluable experience. It’s something we’ve got to build off of to carry into the future. There’s good and bad stuff still to improve on, but I think it’s something for us to try to build off of.”
The fourth-down completion came with Young on the move.
“Poise, eyes down the field,” Canales said, “that aggressive nature but being able to do it within the confines of what’s the smartest thing to do in this situation, so he kept it alive, found us a completion and then we ended up coming away with a touchdown a little bit later.”
After a 2-15 showing in 2023, Carolina lost its first two preseason games – 17-3 to the New England Patriots on Aug. 8 and 15-12 to the New York Jets on Aug. 17 – before beating Buffalo.
The next game for the Panthers is their regular-season opener – an NFC South meeting with the New Orleans Saints at noon CDT Sept. 8 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
“It doesn’t carry over into the season,” Young said of Saturday’s victory, “so we got to re-center, take the good, take the bad, see what we can do moving forward and, obviously, in two weeks focus on New Orleans.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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Publish date : 2024-08-24 10:33:00
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