On Sunday, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young looked like the kid head coach Frank Reich and the rest of the organization fell in love with.
Even despite the 42-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins, and the 0-6 record that came as a result of it, the No. 1 overall pick may have just put his best professional game on tape. Reich was asked about his rookie’s performance following the encouraging outing.
“I think he’s getting better every week,” he replied. “I thought he was seein’ the field really well today . . . particularly in the first half—really the whole game, he saw the field well. Really like the direction that he’s going.
“The offense, overall, has to be better. But there’s some positive things there. Our defense, when you look over six games, our defense has done a lot of good things when you look over six games. Special teams, obviously, has been rock-solid pretty much, most days. So we gotta correct the bad and build off the good.”
Young masterfully orchestrated a hot 14-0 start to the game for Carolina. He led touchdown drives of 64 and 74 yards, capping the latter off with an 8-yard score to wideout Adam Thielen.
The 22-year-old didn’t exactly end the afternoon with his most gaudy-looking stat line, having completed 23 of his 38 throws for 217 yards and the score. But his command of the offense, impressive ball placement and ball security showed why his name was called first back on April 27.
