Panthers notebook: Why Bryce Young won’t dwell on previous Falcons success, more

Bryce Young is returning to the place that gave Carolina Panthers fans a reason to dream ahead of the 2025 season.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In front of a bunch of towel-waving Atlanta Falcons fans. It’s the place where he ran for two touchdowns and threw for three more. Young smiled. He celebrated after first downs. He sliced through several different coverages and got a shout-out from Steph Curry and jumped into teammates’ arms. And importantly, he — and his team — won.

That Week 18 game in 2024 might feel a bit further than it really is. Ask Young himself how he remembers the game, and the third-year quarterback will be hesitant to even acknowledge it.

“I don’t know, it was last year,” Young said Wednesday. He added, “It’s this year. It’s Week 11. And we’re 0-0. Right now it’s Wednesday, and we’re about to watch the tape of practice today. That’s where I’m at.”

Anything you could take from that 2024 performance as an offense, though?

“Different coordinator, different system, different things,” Young said. “They’ve had changes. Again, we’re deep enough in the year when there’s stuff you watch. But right now, you watch this year’s stuff, you watch how they’re playing. I always have confidence in my team. I always have confidence in myself. It’s not something I have to lean on something else for.

“What’s tangible is this week, and that’s all that matters.”

Such responses aren’t all that surprising from Young. They’re also fair, to a certain extent. The Falcons brought in Jeff Ulbrich as their defensive coordinator this year, and a new system accompanied him. Plus, the Panthers have a whole other more reliable data set on who the Falcons are and how they match up with the Carolina offense: In the Panthers’ 30-0 win in Week 3, the Atlanta defense mostly held the Panthers’ offense at bay somehow — it was the Panthers’ defense and a near-perfect special teams performance that made the game so lopsided.

Young, specifically, completed 16 of 24 passes for 121 yards and his only touchdown contribution was one he recorded on the ground.

But there still is something worth exploring about Young’s ability against the Falcons. The 5-foot-10, 204-pound quarterback only has 11 wins to his name, and three of them are against the Falcons. Atlanta is the only NFL team he’s played more than once and has a winning record against, too. And he’s beaten them in all types of ways: one via a defensive struggle, one in a blowout, and once after a game-winning drive capped off a barn-burner.

There must be some significance there. But get Young’s take on such a phenomenon, and he’ll resist dwelling on his previous success against his NFC South foes. He’ll only look ahead.

“They really just jump off the tape: the physicality they play with,” Young said of the current Falcons defense. “Obviously they’re playing really aggressively, they’re making a lot of plays. It’s a really good group. … We have a ton of respect for them at all three levels. They do a good job executing their scheme, and it’s a good scheme. So we’re familiar with them as an opponent, and it’s a great opportunity for us.”

Here’s what else from Wednesday’s availability you should know.

Dowdle misses Wednesday practice again; Hubbard looking good

Rico Dowdle missed practice for the second straight Wednesday. But there’s no reason to be alarmed, head coach Dave Canales said. Why? Because last week’s ramp-up plan is intact for this week — and Dowdle is still expected to go against the Atlanta Falcons.

“Rico is just dealing with a quad, so we just decided to give him the day off, treat it, and keep him off his feet today a little bit,” Canales said. “The plan is to get him back out there tomorrow. We’ll evaluate him in the morning, but the plan is to get him out there, to practice, to take some reps and to get himself going.”

Does that mean that getting more of a rotation at running back — with Chuba Hubbard — could make sense? That’s not what it meant against the Saints last week, to be clear. Dowdle notched 18 of the team’s 23 carries; Hubbard only ran three times for 14 yards.

But Canales said he is entertaining the possibility.

“Could be,” Canales said. “My thought is to just keep trying to play them the way they’ve been. But Chuba got in there when (Dowdle) had to come out in the game and ran hard. Had some really nice runs. So again, it’s a good situation for us, a great opportunity for us to have both guys that I really trust.”

Canales added of Hubbard: “He certainly is looking stronger and stronger. And this is attributed to his hard work. And the way that he attacks taking care of his body and getting himself back to where he wants to be. He’ll have his opportunities in there, and I expect him to continue to contribute.”

Trevin Wallace is ‘week to week,’ will miss Falcons game

Young isn’t the only one who isn’t dwelling on the past. For Claudin Cherelus, there isn’t much time to.

Cherelus, a reserve inside linebacker and special teams ace for the Panthers, will be replacing inside linebacker Trevin Wallace this weekend against the Atlanta Falcons. Wallace left this past Sunday’s game against the Saints with a shoulder injury and didn’t return — and on Wednesday, Canales told reporters that Wallace will be “week to week” and won’t play against the Atlanta Falcons.

In spot snaps Sunday, Cherelus played quite well. He graded out among the best players on the Panthers’ defense, according to Pro Football Focus, and notched three tackles and 0.5 stuff-tackles in 34 snaps.

Cherelus isn’t unfamiliar with filling in for an inside linebacker in Ejiro Evero’s system. But is it simple? No.

“A lot of people will tell you that being a backup in this league is one of the hardest things,” Cherelus said Wednesday. “You won’t get the same amount of reps, and you gotta be ready when your name is called. So you kinda gotta embrace that difficulty. I’ve been ready, I’ve been practicing the same way, just as hard, whether I’m going in or not.”

Canales told reporters that it is still being determined who will call the plays on the defense. One of the two starters, Christian Rozeboom, began 2025 wearing the green dot but once those duties got passed on to Wallace, the team said that Rozeboom began playing more “free” — and Wallace’s production increased, too.

When asked whether Cherelus has any experience calling plays, he smiled and answered in the affirmative. It might’ve been for only one play, last season, sandwiched in between starting inside linebacker Josey Jewell going down with an injury and Cherelus having to leave the game with an injury of his own.

But still, as Chereuls clarified:

Still counts.

“So yeah, I got green dot experience,” Cherelus said Sunday.

Carolina Panthers first injury report of Week 11

Here is the Panthers’ injury report released Wednesday, the first day of practice ahead of their Week 11 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

Did not participate: S Lathan Ransom (hand), Trevin Wallace (shoulder).

Limited participation: Derrick Brown (knee).

Those who showed up on the injury report but who were full participants included receiver Brycen Tremayne (hip) and Chandler Zavala (elbow). Both missed the game against the New Orleans Saints.

Quick hits

—Tre’Von Moehrig is tied for eighth in the league with nine tackles for loss, the most among all safeties, according to the team’s game notes. His previous season high was five last season in Las Vegas. He’s also the only safety in the league this season with 50-plus tackles, nine-plus TFL and nine quarterback pressures. Pro Bowl fan voting typically runs between late November and the end of December.

—The Panthers still have yet to allow a first-quarter touchdown in 2025. They’re now tied for the fourth-longest such streak since the 2000 season. The only teams who’ve done so longer: the Philadelphia Eagles (2017, 11 weeks); the Dallas Cowboys (2022, 11 weeks); and the New York Giants (2002, 15 weeks), according to a team release.

—The Falcons are vulnerable against the run and formidable against the pass. That could spell business for the Panthers. But then again, if they took a similar approach to the Saints this past weekend and stack the box and leave their corners on islands against Panthers receivers … that could spell trouble. The Falcons, after all, only allow 162.3 passing yards a game (best in the NFL) and have the second-highest sack percentage in the game too at 10.86%.