Sean Payton was not pleased with how the Denver Broncos began and ended their 28-14 victory over the injury-plagued Carolina Panthers. However, there were many positives in between that he appreciated.
Bo Nix threw three touchdown passes and ran for another, while Denver’s defense put pressure on Bryce Young for most of the game, intercepting him twice and sacking him twice.
“Everybody on the field was making plays: receivers, tight ends, running backs,” Nix said. “The ball was being spread around to a lot of positions, and I thought that was good. It makes it tough on a defense when you have many guys involved.”
In his best game of the season so far, the Broncos quarterback passed for 284 yards. He connected with Nate Adkins for a 3-yard touchdown and Adam Trautman for a 19-yard touchdown in the second quarter, helping the Broncos (5-3) to a 21-7 lead at halftime.
However, the Broncos’ wide receivers fumbled the ball twice, both leading to touchdowns for Carolina, which ended a stretch of nine consecutive Panthers drives without scoring.
“It’s not a good offense we played. It’s just the truth,” Payton said. He upset some Panthers players, especially cornerback Jaycee Horn, with a fake field goal and a wide receiver pass while leading by 21 points in the fourth quarter. “So, we expected that, and we’re going to see a lot better teams.”
Next up are games against Baltimore and Kansas City in the following weeks.
Payton mentioned that the Broncos “still aren’t playing our best football” and warned his team that in “bigger games than this, some of those mistakes are going to cost us.”
The Panthers (1-7) listed an impressive 22 players on their injury report and lost two more players during the game, marking their fifth straight loss.
Young completed 24 of 37 passes for 224 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“I was definitely grateful, grateful for the opportunity,” Young said. “I was grateful to play, grateful to be out there with the guys. Obviously, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted to. No matter what, I was just blessed to be on the field today.”
Young wasn’t the only one from Carolina struggling — the Broncos went up 28-7 after a failed fake punt by the Panthers from their own 24-yard line in the third quarter. Safety Sam Franklin Jr. was wide open, but punter Johnny Hekker overshot the pass on fourth-and-6.
Just four plays later, Nix threw a side-arm 9-yard touchdown pass to running back Jaleel McLaughlin.
Patrick Surtain II, who allowed Carolina’s first touchdown on their opening drive, intercepted Young at the Denver 11 on the Panthers’ next possession.
Courtland Sutton, who swapped jerseys with former teammate Josey Jewell after the game, caught eight of Nix’s passes for 100 yards. This was his first 100-yard game since Week 2 of the 2022 season against Houston.
However, he lost the ball at the 1-yard line on his final catch just before the two-minute warning when Trevin Wallace knocked it out, and Shy Tuttle recovered his second fumble of the game.
Young excelled in the two-minute drill, moving Carolina 98 yards in 10 plays, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Coker with 18 seconds remaining.
“I’m proud of the guys for the way we finished the fight,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said. “The guys continued to play hard, all the way throughout.”
Young returned as the Panthers’ starting quarterback after being benched in Week 2 when Andy Dalton sprained his right thumb in a car accident on Tuesday. Dalton didn’t practice all week because he couldn’t grip the football properly, so rookie Jack Plummer served as Young’s backup on Sunday.
Canales wasn’t ready to announce his starting quarterback for next week. “We will look at all the information,” he said. “We’ll look at Andy’s health over the next couple of days, and I’ll make that decision and I’ll have an answer for you in the next couple days.”
Things started off positively for Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
After Tuttle recovered Lil’Jordan Humphrey’s fumble at midfield during the first drive of the game, Young helped the Panthers take a 7-0 lead with a 6-yard touchdown pass to rookie Xavier Legette.
That was not only Young’s first touchdown throw of the season but also the first opening-drive touchdown of his career.
However, the Panthers could only get one more first down for the rest of the half, and the Broncos began to take control in all areas of the game. “I didn’t like how it finished,” Payton said. “But it was good to get a win.”
