by Dennis Cox
Bryce Young isn’t the guy: Bryce Young’s string of mediocre play continued in Sunday’s 17-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints, and this time it came back to bite the Panthers. For the eighth time this season, Bryce Young passed for less than 200 yards, finishing with 17 of 25 for 124 yards, two turnovers and zero touchdowns. On the opening drive of the game, Young threw an interception over the middle to Saints LB Demario Davis, but the Saints were whistled for a roughing the passer penalty that negated the INT, but the decision and pass were still poor by Young. Carolina would score later that drive on a Rico Dowdle run, producing the only points of the game for the offense.
The Panthers only had one play gain 15 yards or more the entire game. In the fourth quarter with the Panthers trailing 10-7, Young threw an inexplicable INT to the right side to Alontae Taylor, which eventually led to a TD by the Saints. On the ensuing drive on a crucial 4th down, Bryce threw a pass short of the sticks to Chuba Hubbard, resulting in a turnover on downs. It was the last time the Panthers touched the ball.
Trying to defend the ‘game manager quarterback’ when the quarterback isn’t providing much for the offense generally doesn’t go over well with fans. Passes were consistently off target, even on completed passes, and the offense lacked any sort of flow for weeks. Throwing for less than 150 yards while turning the ball over more than you’re scoring is not how you sustain success. And Young’s counterpart, Tyler Shough, a second-round pick making his second career start, threw for more than double Bryce young, finishing with 282 yards on 19 of 27 passing with two touchdowns and zero turnovers.
In nine starts this season, Young has thrown for 200 or more yards just once this season which came in Week 2 at the Arizona Cardinals where he threw for 328 yards on 55 pass attempts. In terms of yards per attempt, Young has only reach 6.0 or more YPA in just three games this season. Young has accounted for 12 touchdowns (11 passing, one rushing) and 11 turnovers (7 interceptions, four lost fumbles) this season, while completing just 61.7% of his passes.
The Panthers offense is nothing without the run game: This ties in majorly with the everything stated above about Bryce Young, but the Carolina Panthers this season under head coach Dave Canales only have one way of winning games: run the ball, score with long sustained drives, and play good enough defense to keep it close. Take one of things away, and it all falls apart.
Of the 19 touchdowns the Panthers have scored this season, Only two have been longer than 20 yards this season – a late 27-yard catch by RB Chuba Hubbard in Week 1 at Jacksonville, and a 36-yard catch by RB Rico Dowdle in Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys. The only other score that has been longer than ten yards also game against Dallas, a 19-yard catch by rookie WR Tetairoa McMillan. No other score has been longer than seven yards. Opponents against the Panthers have 11 offensive scores of 10-plus yards this season, including eight by at least 20-plus yards.
The inability of the Panthers to pick up chunk plays limits their scoring. Ten of the touchdown drives for Carolina this season have been at least ten plays long, while only two drives have taken six plays or less. The longest pass play of the season for the Panthers is 40 yards.
In all, Carolina is 27th in the NFL in scoring, at just 17.7 points per game, which is less than their total of 20.1 PPG in 2024 that finished 23rd in the league.
Nic Scourton had arguably his best game: The rookie OLB continues to get better week after week with more live games snaps. Early in the fourth quarter with the Saints leading 10-7, New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore elected to go for it on 4th & four from the Carolina 32 yard line, passing on a potential 50-yard field goal attempt. On the play, Scourton got into the backfield and sacked Saints QB Tyler Shough for an eight-yard loss, giving the offense the ball with 13:42 to play. It was the biggest play of the game for the Panthers defense, and in a moment where the team needed it most.
Sadly, the defense was right back on the field two plays later after Young’s interception. And Carolina’s defense was forced to back out on to the field quickly throughout the game with the offense being inept for a vast majority of the game.
Scourton finished with four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and two quarterback hits. He’s blossoming and growing with each game, and it feels the Panthers found themselves a solid player in the second-round of the 2025 NFL Draft. His performance shouldn’t be overlooked.