Bryce Young will start at quarterback for the Panthers in Week 8
The car accident that involved Andy Dalton and his family on Wednesday led to a quarterback change for the Carolina Panthers on Thursday.
Head coach Dave Canales announced Dalton sprained a thumb in the incident and won’t be able to start against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
And you know what that means …
Bryce Young returns as starting QB for Carolina. The No. 1 overall pick in 2023 will take the snaps.
He will match up with Denver’s rookie QB Bo Nix in a duel of first-round picks.
It will also provide another example of how sour the Panthers’ decision to trade for the Chicago Bears’ No. 1 overall pick in 2023 was.
#Panthers HC Dave Canales says Bryce Young will start Sunday against the Broncos. Dalton sprained his thumb in the car accident yesterday. pic.twitter.com/3ZitoDi45I
The Panthers went into Las Vegas and crushed the Raiders
There are bad losses and then there is what the Las Vegas Raiders experienced Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
The Panthers came into the game almost a touchdown underdog. That seemed kind given the way they played in the first two weeks of the season. Carolina lost both of its games and had been outscored 73-13.
The week was filled with controversy in Carolina as Bryce Young, the overall No. 1 pick in 2023, was benched in favor of veteran Andy Dalton.
Dave Canales in his first year as Carolina’s coach made a brilliant move.
Dalton threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns as the Panthers rocked the Raiders, 36-22.
The game was tied at 7-7 after the first quarter. Dalton led the Panthers to 26 straight points before the Raiders finally answered with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter when it was far too late.
This is either waving a white flag or trying to save what is left of Bryce Young’s psyche.
The Carolina Panthers are benching the former No. 1 overall pick out of Alabama and will start veteran Andy Dalton in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Carolina Panthers were down early in New Orleans
The Carolina Panthers were 2-15 last season. They haven’t started 2024 any better.
Derek Carr found Rashid Shaheed for a 59-yard touchdown pass to start the scoring for New Orleans.
Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, then had his first pass of 2024 picked off by Will Harris. It led to a field goal and the Saints were up 10-0 early.
We look at the Carolina Panthers and tell you where they may end up at the end of the season.
It couldn’t have gone much worse last season for the former number one overall pick Bryce Young and his Carolina Panthers. With the worst record in the league, the lack of a first round draft pick the following season, and one of the worst offensive outings in recent memory, there can’t be a town of hope left in Charlotte. Enter new head coach Dave Canales, who in his own right is a bit of an offensive whiz and respected quarterback mentor, helping revive the careers of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in recent years. Can he do the same for Bryce Young and turn this franchise around?
Canales and new general manager Dan Morgan made a concerted effort this offseason to ensure that Bryce Young had a chance to fully prove himself after a bit of a throw away year last season. With major investments in the interior with the signings of offensive guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, Carolina vastly improves what was the worst unit in the league last season. The team also made sure to snag their favorite weapon in the draft via a trade up to snag South Carolina receiver Xavier Legette, who was a yards after catch machine in college, and paired him with newly added veteran Diontae Johnson to add some respectability as a receiver room that was abysmal last year.
Overall the Carolina Panthers are bound to face some serious hurdles heading into next season. The loss of Brian Burns cannot be understated as the defensive depth at pass rusher is paper thin outside of the newly added Jadeveon Clowney. This season will be about establishing Bryce Young as a quarterback and seeing exactly what a Dave Canales offense looks like with the investments on the offensive side of the ball. Expect Young to take a step forward with the improvements all around him, and look for the sneaky elite defensive tackle Derrick Brown to help make the defense respectable.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get deep into a new press coverage revolution in today’s NFL.
Over the last few seasons in the NFL, a lot of coaches and executives have tailored their defensive schemes in one specific fashion — an increase in press coverage from their cornerbacks. Not only the old-school aggressive press-man coverage we all know, but also mirror-match press man coverage, where a cornerback trails the receiver through his route as the route is declared.
Why? Because NFL offenses have found all kinds of ways to beat the old Seattle Cover-3 stuff from a decade ago with 3×1 and 2×2 receiver sets, and the route concepts inherent in those deployments. Now, if you’re rolling out that “Country Cover-3,” your defense is going to be in trouble.
There’s also the element of quick game in the league, which has increased in recent years. When the quarterback is throwing out of zero- to three-step drops, there are times when edge defenders simply don’t have time to get to the quarterback before the ball comes out. So, logic dictates that if you can’t disrupt the quarterback in the timing of the down, you need to disrupt the timing of the receivers’ routes, forcing the quarterback to delay his reads and throws, and giving those pass-rushers that extra split millisecond to get home.
In this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, investigate the NFL’s changes in press coverage, and the players who do it the best, including...
L’Jarius Sneed of the Titans;
A.J. Terrell of the Falcons;
Martin Emerson Jr. of the Browns;
Patrick Surtain Jr. of the Broncos;
Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner of the Jets; and
Joey Porter Jr. of the Steelers.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
