When the Carolina Panthers play the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the NFL team will be seeking its fifth straight victory with Bryce Young as the starting quarterback and its first record with two more victories than losses since it was 3-1 in the 2021 season.
To reach this point, Carolina needed field goals on the final play to beat the Dallas Cowboys 30-27 on Oct. 12 and the Green Bay Packers 16-13 on Nov. 2 and a touchdown pass with 1:59 remaining to defeat the Miami Dolphins 27-24 on Oct. 5.
In the other game in the Young-led winning streak, the Panthers defeated the New York Jets 13-6 on Oct. 19. Young left that game with 3:56 left in the third quarter with an ankle injury that caused him to miss Carolina’s 40-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 26.
“Just consistency,” Young said of his fourth-quarter play during the victories. “Coach talks about all the time, it’s about doing right longer. Making sure that we’re those same people.
“You know, you don’t rise to the level of the occasion; you fall back to the level of your training. In those times, we have reps. We have trust in each other. I have confidence and faith in everyone. We all have confidence in each other. So we know that we’re comfortable in situations, so it’s not about going and doing something super, doing something we never practiced. It’s just who can execute for longer, who can stick to the plan, who can do right like we practice.”
This season, the former Alabama All-American has five touchdown passes and one interception in the fourth quarter and six touchdown passes and five interceptions in the first through third quarters.
“He’s comfortable in those moments,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said of Young. “He believes he belongs in those moments. I believe he does, too. And as we collectively as a team put ourselves into high-stakes situations and high-stakes moments like that, that’s where we count on all the guys to execute, and certainly Bryce is at the forefront of that.”
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While Miami, Dallas and New York currently have losing records, Green Bay owned the NFC’s best mark at 5-1-1 when the Packers fell to the Panthers last week. Canales said nullifying Green Bay’s Micah Parsons and the Packers’ pass rush went a long way to securing the upset.
“We had a game plan to get the ball out quickly, and Bryce accomplished that for us,” Canales said. “He was very decisive. The receivers were running fast, presenting themselves in the time that we needed to. You get one, maybe you get one hitch and then it’s time to go and make a decision.”
The Panthers and Saints will square off in an NFC South rivalry game at noon CST Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
At 5-4, Carolina is a 5.5-point betting favorite over 1-8 New Orleans. The Panthers have not been this heavily favored in a game since they posted a 24-9 victory over the Houston Texans as a nine-point favorite on Sept. 23, 2021.
“Week-to-week league,” Young said. “No one cares what happened last week. We’re focused. We know that it’s going to take everything this week. I have a lot of respect for them. Division opponent, these are important games, so it’s just refocusing so that we can have the best chance to be successful this weekend.”
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