Bryce Young made it easy for Panthers coach Dave Canales to decide how long to keep the starting offense on the field in their preseason finale at Buffalo on Saturday.
Young reassured the coach by finishing a 12-play, 85-yard opening drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Matthews in Carolina’s 31-26 win.
“Oh, it was great, right? Couldn’t have dreamt it better,” Canales said, also mentioning other key offensive players like receivers Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen. “Bryce looked sharp. Diontae and Adam looked great. I don’t want to go through the whole list. But anyway, the first group, I loved seeing them out there today.”
Young played only one series, and after the starters missed Carolina’s first two preseason games, he finished 6 of 8 for 70 yards. This was 9 more yards than what third- and fourth-stringers Jack Plummer and Jake Luton combined for in a 15-12 loss to the New York Jets last weekend.
The 2023 top overall pick demonstrated his understanding of his first-year coach’s new offensive system and handled various challenges in a game setting.
Young converted a fourth-and-3 by running to his left and completing a 17-yard pass to Johnson. On the next play, a play-action fake led to Young hitting Thielen for a 21-yard gain.
The touchdown pass came on third down after two incompletions, with Young waiting in the pocket until Matthews got open over the middle.
“I thought it was invaluable, something that we’ve got to continue to build off and carry into the future,” Young said. “There’s practice but being able to have that in a game and there being consequences to it, I think it was great for us as an offense to be put in a situation and for us to overcome it.”
