Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is as cool, calm and collected as they come. But even he can’t avoid the exasperation that comes with his team’s constant struggles.
The rookie spoke with reporters after Thursday night’s 16-13 loss to the Chicago Bears, one in which his offense averaged all of 3.7 yards per play. He was asked about his level of frustration with the 1-8 start.
“We’re all frustrated. Frustrating situation to be in,” he said. “It’s not who we are, not who we wanna be. But we are what we put on tape, we are what we put on the field and we have to be better. Our defense balled. Great game. Start to finish. We have to be better. I have to be better, first and foremost. I have to be a lot better.”
Young’s not necessarily wrong, as he completed 21 of his 35 attempts for 185 yards. He’s now, through eight games, hit the 200-yard passing mark just four times.
But, he could definitely use some help from his teammates. Once again, Young’s receivers had difficulty finding space and his offensive line consistently cracked from the pressure.
And while Young will always shoulder the blame, he knows getting better is a group effort.
“We’re not perfect, but we work,” he said. “We come off the practices feelin’ good a lot of the times. We talk about little things and we carry it over. And again, the coaches do a great job of cultivating that from us. But we haven’t been able to translate that. That hasn’t been able to show up, especially consistently. And that’s not good enough.
“It’s a work in progress to find what that disconnect is. We all have to look in the mirror, we all have to figure out what we can do to help.”
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