The Carolina Panthers’ preseason was surrounded by uncertainty, particularly regarding the availability of the team’s starting units. But after a bit of contemplation ahead of the finale in Buffalo, head coach Dave Canales gave the green light to a number of his featured players for Saturday.
Among those who hit the field at Highmark Stadium was quarterback Bryce Young, whose disappointing rookie campaign still sits fresh in the minds of Panthers fans. But with a new mind on the sideline as well as new pieces installed throughout the offense, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick may be getting a fair chance to succeed.
We ate up a flash of that prospect after Young pieced together an impressive drive against the Bills—a touch where he completed six of his eight throws for 70 yards and a score. So, let’s take a deeper dive into each one of Young’s nine dropbacks from his lone possession of the preseason . . .
Dropback No. 1
We begin on a first-and-10 from the Carolina 15-yard line. The offense comes out with a 12-personnel package (two tight ends, two wide receivers, and one running back) out of the wing slot pistol formation that is then motioned to U off-trips by Jordan Matthews (No. 81).
It’s a play-action rollout with the two receivers running deep crossers and the in-line tight end running a corner route to the sideline. Matthews runs a flat route from across the formation.
If you slow the video down, you can see where Young is taking a peak at the defense as he and running back Chuba Hubbard (No. 30) connect at the mesh point. He sees the safeties have rotated into a Cover 3 look, and the linebackers creep up to the line of scrimmage with the backside defensive end free due to the slide protection to the left.
With a defender in his face, Young rolls out and quickly checks the ball down to Matthews—who turns upfield for an 8-yard pickup. This was a routine play that was well-executed.
Dropback No. 2
Facing a short-yardage situation on second-and-2 from their own 23-yard line, the Panthers come out in the shotgun with 11 personnel (three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back) and trips to the left. Hubbard is motioned in the backfield to the flat to get a quick glimpse of the initial look of Cover 3 from the defense.
At the bottom of the screen, both Jonathan Mingo (No. 15) and Adam Thielen (No. 19) run three- to five-yard curl routes with Diontae Johnson (No. 5) running a nine or “go” route to the right of the formation. Rookie tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders (No. 85) runs an intermediate crosser.
Young sees the initial coverage from single-high rotate late to two-high. He moves off Johnson as his initial one-on-one matchup.
Bills linebacker Deion Jones (No. 45) gets into a world of confusion when attempting to work back to the intermediate crossing route. Young hits Sanders with an accurate throw for a 13-yard gain.
Dropback No. 3
After Canales works to the ground game with Hubbard for three plays, he goes back to the passing attack. Here, on second-and-6 from the Buffalo 49-yard line, the Panthers come out in a full house formation with 12 personnel.
This play has already been the subject of some controversy due to the pass protection and whether a receiver was open. It’s a play action with Johnson running a deep post or crosser, Mingo running a deep post-corner, Sanders on a block-and-release to the flat while Hubbard works to the flat from the mesh point.
It’s a three-man true route concept with extra blockers from Sanders and Matthews. Based on my perception of the play, the coverage is great here and it would’ve been a tough throw for Young to make—especially if the safety lurking to Mingo bails back out to the deep third.
Is there space there to hit Johnson downfield? Yes, but I don’t believe that’s a throw Young attempts. He doesn’t have the rocket arm a Patrick Mahomes or a Josh Allen does to make that a consistent play or throw.
However, this is a great job by Young to avoid three would-be sacks—which is a great display of his twitchiness and maneuverability as a quarterback. I’m marking this down as a coverage sack.
Dropback No. 4
This is a third-and-6 from the Buffalo 49 after the sack of Young on the previous play. Carolina comes out with 11 personnel in the shotgun with trips to the right. Canales calls a stick concept to the right.
The No. 3 receiver, Mingo, inside runs a choice route based on the coverage. The No. 2 receiver, Thielen, runs a three- to five-yard out while Sanders runs a vertical route up the sideline. On the backside, Johnson runs what looks to be a deep post.
Carolina’s goal here is the pick up short yardage and, at best, a run-after-catch gain up the sideline. This is yet another great coverage rep from the Bills defense as Young’s pass to Mingo is caught, but is stopped immediately upon the catch.
Not a lot to take in from this play. The next one, however, was the throw of the day.
Dropback No. 5
Fourth-and-3 from the Buffalo 46-yard line. This is always a must-have any time you go for it in this situation.
The Panthers, once again, play with 11 personnel out of the shotgun, only this time it’s a double-stack look on both sides. Canales calls a mesh concept. The idea here is to cause conflict among the second-level defenders with drag routes underneath, allowing for the curl route in the middle of the field to open up or the wheel route from the running back to be free.
Sanders and Thielen run the drags, but are stifled by the linebackers in their spot drops. The safety playing man coverage near the line of scrimmage runs with Hubbard while first-round pick and rookie wideout Xavier Legette (No. 17) is blanketed in man coverage. The same goes for Johnson running the post.
Young sees this, and with the protection sound, scrambles to his left—hoping for one of his receivers to break free from an initial dead play. In sync, Johnson and Young are running parallel to each other.
This allows Young to make a fantastic throw moving to his left to find his No. 1 receiver for a 17-yard gain and a fourth-down conversion.
This was excellent execution on the scramble drill.
Dropback No. 6
This is first-and-10 from the Buffalo 29. Once more, it’s an 11 personnel package with trips to the right.
Canales calls for a play action that allows Young to move off-platform and find his receivers in space, something that may sound foreign to last year’s offense. The play action resembles a stretch play with Sanders faking at the mesh point to draw most of the defense away from where the action is happening.
With a great play design, chaos erupts in the secondary with defensive backs scrambling to figure out their next steps. Based on my interpretation, Thielen and Legette are running choice routes based on the coverage.
The former is one of the best at reading coverages mid-route and sitting in the soft spots of zone coverage. That’s exactly what happens as Thielen turns upfield for a 21-yard gain.
Some will point out that Johnson was “open.” However, it would’ve been a cross-body throw that would be tough for even Young to make. Plus, the cornerback has leverage where he would be able to jump the route.
Dropbacks No. 7 and No. 8
Carolina now has first and goal from the Buffalo 8-yard line with 11 personnel. This is a spacing concept out of the shotgun, with Mingo motioning across the formation to the flat.
Young’s initial reads are sealed with quality coverage. As he works to the middle of the field and to his left, coverage remains intact for the Bills. He has no choice but to throw it away, though he could’ve done a better job of not drifting into pressure.
On second and goal, Canales calls a goal-line fade. Young’s pass is overthrown.
In my opinion, these types of quick game pass at the goal line have a very low percentage of success unless you have a Calvin Johnson or a Julio Jones reincarnated. If this was a fourth-and-goal situation with the game on the line, I wouldn’t implement a goal-line fade.
Dropback No. 9
It’s third and goal for Carolina. They come out again in 11 personnel with shotgun double stacks. The left stack runs a smash concept (hitch-corner) while the left plus the running back runs a variation of a bench concept (flat/out-corner).
Matthews runs a quick slant underneath. For some reason, both linebackers are drawn to the flat receiver in Hubbard. That leaves the middle of the field as open as you could imagine.
It’s an easy touchdown throw for Young to complete an efficient first and only series for the Panthers’ second-year signal caller.
Takeaways
This offensive series gave people a glimpse of what could be in 2024. While Canales hinted before this game that the unit would look “vanilla,” the offense appeared much more competent and structured than the mess that occurred last season.
From my perspective, I saw an offense that did its job in camouflaging the weaknesses and emphasizing the strengths. Young looked more comfortable and confident as a thrower, just as he had shown throughout the summer in training camp.
Young’s freedom to play out of structure and off-platform made the offense more dangerous than it was. If this was really the vanilla look of Carolina’s offense this season, there is likely more to come from this group starting in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints.
Fans should be encouraged by what they saw on Saturday. While it is fair to point out that Buffalo had no starters on the field, good offensive play is good offensive play.
For a team coming off the worst record in football, this looks like a completely different offense—and one that could be the catalyst for quite a few more wins.
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