Bryce Young quiets critics with 448-yard game in win over Falcons; consistency the next hurdle

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At least for one week, Bryce Young silenced the critics.

The question moving forward will be if he can do it on a consistent basis.

Seven days after being held to 124 yards passing by the New Orleans Saints, Young completed 31 of 45 passes for a franchise-record 448 yards passing and three touchdowns to lead Carolina to a 30-27 win over the Atlanta Falcons that pulled the Panthers (6-5) within a half game of the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South.

Entering Sunday's game, Young had only eclipsed 200 yards passing in one of his previous nine starts this season.

Panthers coach Dave Canales said after the 17-7 loss to the then-one-win Saints that the Panthers had to figure things out in the passing game and how to get bigger chunk plays.

They did on Sunday.

Canales felt that this type of game was coming from his team.

“I’m seeing the improvement in practice, I’m seeing the chemistry happen," Canales said. “For whatever reason, that hasn’t showed up in the game. Today, we found great rhythm. It’s not always pretty and there were some dirty pockets, but the offensive line did an admirable job of giving Bryce time, and Bryce bought a little bit of time to find guys down the field. It just takes a couple of plays, and the guys feel the juice and the confidence to continue to go.”

Rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan admitted the offense could feel the mounting pressure from the poor numbers in the passing game.

“Bryce and just our whole offense was getting a lot of backlash just the past week about, obviously, the passing yards,” McMillan said. “But everybody in the locker room knew it was bound to happen. We knew that we had in our bag, and specifically Bryce. But I mean, Bryce went out there and balled for sure.”

Young, who had five total TDs in last season's game at Atlanta, said the Panthers need to play well in the passing game on a more consistent basis beginning Monday night at San Francisco.

“We all know what we’re capable of. We have the guys and we know we also have to be balanced as well," Young said. "The coaching staff today did a great job of giving us opportunities, of scheming stuff up. Again, it’s not one player. It’s not one person. It’s all of us. Credit goes to them, to the guys around me and then we have to earn the right to be consistent.”

What's

working

The Panthers did a better job of getting the tight ends more involved in the offense.

Tommy Tremble had a huge 54-yard catch-and-run in overtime to set up Ryan Fitzgerald's third game-winning field goal of the season, Ja'Tavion Sanders added four catches for 22 yards and Mitchell Evans added two grabs for 28 yards. For a Panthers team that often seems to view its tight ends as an afterthought, that is a huge day of production.

“You love to see the tight ends getting involved and (slot receiver Jalen (Coker) making a couple of plays as well, because the field starts to tilt when T-Mac (McMillan) plays as well as he has been," Canales said. "Today we just felt like it was a balanced deal, where Bryce had options and different places to go.”

What needs help

Tackling. The run defense struggled against the Falcons, with Bijan Robinson running for 104 yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers have had issues stopping Robinson and Sunday was no exception, as he found several holes, particularly running to the outside.

Robinson did most of his damage in the first half with 93 yards rushing as Atlanta built a 21-7 lead. He was limited to 9 yards in the second half.

“Simply put, it was tackling in the first half, and Bijan really just went off," Canales said. “We had guys in position, and he made us miss a couple of times. That’s where we have to have the full group rallied into the ball so that if someone does miss, someone’s there to pick it up. He picked up a bunch of extra yards that way. Playing the little details, all those things, were what we talked about at the half.”

Stock up

Tetairoa McMillan. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 draft has the third-best odds to win AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, according to BetMGM after catching eight passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons. It was McMillan's second two-TD game of the season, previously reaching the mark against the Dallas Cowboys. McMillan has 54 receptions for 748 yards and four TDs despite having to spend his entire rookie season as the team's No. 1 wide receiver and drawing most of the opposing defense's attention.

Stock down

Panthers secondary. One week after the Panthers struggled to stop New Orleans' Chris Olave, the Panthers allowed another 100-yard receiver in Drake London. Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn had a defensive holding call leading to an Atlanta touchdown.

Injuries

Young injured his ankle early in Sunday's game but was able to get it re-taped and returned to have a career game. Whether or not that ankle, which kept him out of the Buffalo game a few weeks ago, will give him more problems down the road remains to be seen. “He was dealing with some stuff," Canales said. “The ankle that flared up a couple times and they checked it out, and they made sure that everything was structurally fine. At that point, it was just a pain tolerance thing, and he gutted it out.” ... LB Christian Rozeboom left the game with a hamstring injury leaving the Panthers thin at linebacker.

Key number

100 — Yards from scrimmage from running back Rico Dowdle on 24 touches, putting him over 1,000 yards from scrimmage for the season.

Next steps

The Panthers will play in their only Monday night game of the season when they face their former star running back Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers.