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Bryce Young had the game of his NFL life Sunday, throwing for a franchise-record 448 yards in the Carolina Panthers’ 30-27 overtime cliffhanger of a win at Atlanta.
It was thrilling to watch, all the more so for its unexpectedness. Young had thrown for 200-plus yards only once this entire season, and yet in this game before a sold-out crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium he threw for 200 and then 248 more. He also was playing on a bum right ankle, which he reinjured on two separate occasions during the game.
And yet Young kept coming back, and so did the Panthers, who looked in danger of being blown out when they were down 21-7 to the Falcons in the second quarter. Instead, they climbed back into the game from 14 points down and moved to 6-5 on the season with the win. With Tampa Bay’s loss Sunday to Green Bay, Carolina now sits only a half-game behind the 6-4 Buccaneers in the race for the NFC South.
“What a day,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. “I don’t think we have any more plays left on the call sheet.”
After those 448 yards, Young still had trouble stepping up the 12 inches it took to traverse one step up to the interview podium following the game. He limped into that room with a smile on his face, though, after breaking Cam Newton’s franchise record of 432 passing yards (set in his very first game, in 2011).
“Definitely honored,” Young said about breaking Newton’s record. “I have so much respect for Cam.”
The Panthers’ big-play passing game that came up so small a week ago in Carolina’s home loss to woeful New Orleans was omnipresent in Atlanta, with a 54-yard catch-and-run to tight end Tommy Tremble providing the final yardage to set up Ryan Fitzgerald’s 28-yard, game-winning field goal in overtime.
But there were eight other Carolina pass plays of 20 or more yards, including a 36-yard fingertip grab of a touchdown by Xavier Legette and a 39-yarder to outstanding rookie Tetairoa McMillan. This was Young at his best, spraying the ball all over the field against Atlanta (3-7), which stole New Orleans’ game plan of selling out to stop the run from last week but utilized it to much less good effect.
All of that seemed so unlikely in the first quarter, when Young was sacked on a blitz on Carolina’s second possession and lay on his back on the turf. The training staff and Canales both ran out to check on him. It was obvious Young was hurting.
“Pain’s an accurate way to sum it up,” Young said.
“It was scary, man,” Tremble said. “That’s a scary, scary thing when your quarterback’s on the ground and obviously in pain.”
Backup quarterback Andy Dalton started warming up. Young got up on his own accord and limped into the tunnel, waving off a cart that had been designated to drive him to the locker room. He had been sacked on a third-down play, so the Panthers punted, and by the time they got the ball again, Young had passed the necessary tests for ankle stability and was back.
“He gave me a thumbs up and said, ‘I’m good,’” Canales said. “I said, ‘That’s good enough for me. Let’s get him back out there.’”
Young had directed Carolina to a first-drive touchdown, but when he came back, the magic largely stalled. Atlanta scored on three consecutive possessions, rolling through the Panthers’ defense. It was 21-10, Atlanta, at halftime.
But the Panthers scored on their first drive of the second half, too, and made it a game again. Atlanta’s Big Three on offense — quarterback Michael Penix Jr., running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London — had their way with Carolina in the first half, but not in the second. By the end, both Penix and London were hurt and out of the game, and it was Robinson and backup quarterback Kirk Cousins trying to get it done for the Falcons.
Young hurt the same ankle again on a fourth-and-1 play in the fourth quarter. He was under center — where the Panthers rarely put him — and got his ankle stepped on by right guard Chandler Zavala, falling down as he backed up and getting piled on while also giving up the ball on downs. Still, the Panthers survived when Carolina’s defense held Atlanta to a field goal.
Down 24-19, Young got the Panthers into scoring position again on the team’s last drive of regulation. After Rico Dowdle’s apparent touchdown on a screen pass was ruled no TD because Dowdle barely stepped out of bounds at the 10 — “If he had white cleats on, it might be a touchdown,” Canales said — Young found McMillan after a scramble from 12 yards out. Then came a two-point conversion pass to Jalen Coker to make it 27-24, Carolina, with 1:08 to play.
That could have won the game, but Cousins led Atlanta a game-tying field goal at the end of regulation. So it needed to be won yet again. The Falcons went nowhere in overtime. On Carolina’s final possession, Young went through all of his progressions before ending up on Tremble, who hadn’t had a catch the entire game. He grabbed the ball, saw an opening and bolted down the field for 54 yards.
“When you can get through your progressions and throw a 6-yard pass and it goes for 40 or 50,” Young said, “that’s a real luxury.”
That’s a good point. The Panthers’ receivers caught everything near them Sunday. Young’s glorious final stats — 31 for 45 for 448 yards, with three passing TDs and no turnovers — were helped by all sorts of leaping, diving and fingertip catches. Suddenly, the Panthers looked like a team which didn’t need to just rely on Dowdle, who was limited to 45 rushing yards by Atlanta’s stacked boxes.
In a sport where toughness is prized, Young’s teammates kept pointing out his return from the ankle injury.
“I’m proud of 9,” said defensive tackle Derrick Brown, referring to Young’s jersey number. “He played through injury today. … I’m sure he’s gonna need a few days to recover, but it’s OK, we got a long week this week (the Panthers don’t play again until on Monday Night Football on Nov. 24 at San Francisco). And he was getting the ball downfield to those guys. … Everybody got a slice of pie.”
Yes, they did. Sunday was a “pie for everyone” sort of day for the Panthers and their fans. Carolina has on a yo-yo for much of this season — a great win at Green Bay followed by a lousy loss to New Orleans. This, though, was another high point, led by a 5-foot-10 quarterback who just wouldn’t stay down.
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Scott Fowler
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