You’ll be hard-pressed to find a good-looking statistic at this point for Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young.
Through his first two NFL games, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick has completed 59.2 percent of his throws for 299 yards (4.2 yards per attempt), two touchdowns and two interceptions. Oh, and in the most important number of all, his Panthers are 0-2.
But it’s not all bad. In fact, Young is currently the best in the entire league in one particular category.
According to the following graph, courtesy of Judah Fortgang and Pro Football Focus, Young is currently the most accurate thrower into open windows. The flip side, though, is not so encouraging for the rest of the Carolina offense . . .
Through 2 weeks, how often QBs are throwing to open windows and their accuracy on those throws pic.twitter.com/AlzY6EdHjY
— Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball) September 19, 2023
While the y-axis shows us that he has the very best completion rate into open windows at approximately 80 percent, the x-axis represents how many of his throws go into said spots. And outside of Derek Carr, Young has the lowest concentration of attempts into open windows.
So, yeah, his targets don’t seem to be getting open much.
On Tuesday, head coach Frank Reich was asked about his receivers’ inability to gain separation thus far. He, in defending his pass catchers, referred back to Monday night’s loss to the New Orleans Saints:
“When I look back on the tape from this game—there’s certainly gonna be corrections with the receivers on a couple things, but I thought the route running . . . obviously . . . we’re always gonna say, ‘I can coach better, everybody can play better and a couple of the routes can get better.’ But what I saw on tape was a group that I have a lot of confidence in.”
Reich also gave props to a stout Saints defense, which hasn’t allowed 20 points in any of their last 10 games. Plus, last weekend’s opponents, the Atlanta Falcons, aren’t exactly slouches on that side of the ball either.
So, for now, let’s at least bask in the positive results for Young. But the Panthers better hope, especially with a suspect Seattle Seahawks secondary up next, that those windows start becoming a lot more open a lot more often.
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