Carolina Panthers He had another disappointing day on Sunday, losing away to the Denver Broncos. For Carolina, the biggest story and the only thing to watch was the return of Bryce Young. He got the start after Andy Dalton was injured but despite some flashes he couldn’t make the most of it.

Bryce Young received the ball on the team’s first possession and completed his first five passes. Among them was a touchdown pass to Patrick Surtain II, one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Things didn’t exactly pick up after that as the rest of the game was pretty up and down. But that’s exactly Dalton’s total of two goals over the last two weeks, two more than Young had previously scored. Young gets a B- for his performance.

Two interceptions is never good, but as always in the NFL, context matters. The first interception came on fourth down, with Tommy Tremble intercepting Young’s route as he waited for him to continue to the sideline. The second was a truly spectacular play by the defender who took a potential goal away from Jalen Coker.

There were some missed passes along the way, including a slight overthrow that could have been a big play (possibly a touchdown) for Xavier Legette. But the Panthers’ offense did him no favors. Legette knocked down a gain of at least 30 yards before halftime. Penalties were given in many games.

But they saw what the Panthers needed to see. Young was never going to be able to bounce back perfectly on the road against arguably the best defense and statistically the best corner tandem in the league. This doesn’t even take into consideration that Adam Thielen and Diontae Johnson are out and Chuba Hubbard isn’t contributing much on the field. But Young looked much more relaxed and confident.

He advanced to the pocket and delivered the ball without fear of being hit. This included two impressive deep balls that were completed despite tough calls from pass rushers. He guided the goal better than he had at first and delivered balls much more accurately in general. It was far from pretty, but it should be enough to convince Dave Canales to let Young thrive on the field rather than on the bench.

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