Last week was the first game he's missed because of injury since his rookie season, and Young said he was determined to remain engaged on the sideline and help Dalton.
"You just change your perspective to being however helpful you can on the sideline," he said. "I want to be there for Andy, for the team, bring energy, bring juice. So I think that's a change of perspective, obviously. The competitor in me, and I'm sure everyone in this locker room, you want to go out there, you want to make every play, you want to be on the field 24/7. It's a league full of ups and downs, and when you're there, your mind is just shifting to how helpful you can be."
That also included some counseling. At one point late in the game, rookie outside linebacker Princely Umanmielen came to the sideline frustrated and threw his helmet. Young was immediately there, talking to Umanmielen and doing what appeared to be his best to get the rookie back on task and calm. Without getting into the specifics of the source of Umanmielen's frustration or what was said, he said that keeping everyone engaged was also part of his job.
"Obviously, you just want to make sure that everything from a team standpoint is focused in the right way," Young said. "He's a great young player, he's going to continue to be really good for us. He has a super bright future and, really obviously, you want everything to be about the team and everything to come together and be with your brothers. But at the end of the day, it shows that he cares.
"I saw him in the locker room, and he wasn't just, oh, who cares, like we lost the game. It matters to him. He has that fire. He has that emotion. You want to make sure it's channeled the right way, but I'd rather that than someone who just doesn't bat an eye at a loss or doesn't want to be better, and that speaks to his competitive spirit."