Carolina Panthers running back says, despite the 17-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints, "we're a great team and we're building something special." By Alex Zietlow
With 10:15 left in the game, down 10 points and in desperate need of some explosiveness, the Carolina Panthers did something revealing.
They ran the ball.
The New Orleans Saints had been daring Panthers quarterback Bryce Young to throw the ball all day: stacking the box with extra defenders, leaving their corners on islands with Panthers receivers. And on what turned out to be the Panthers’ final offensive drive of the day Sunday, the Saints kept their base seven in the box, ready for a run.
At least it appeared that way. And it appeared right. Young handed the ball off to red-hot-turned-suddenly-cooled-off Rico Dowdle. He gained 3 yards. The play might have felt moot immediately; a roughing the passer call the next play gave the Panthers a new set of downs, and four uninspired plays after that — including a 1-yard pass to Chuba Hubbard on fourth-and-2 — the ball, and the game, were back in the Saints’ suddenly capable hands.
But the play wasn’t moot. In fact, it captured the story of the Panthers’ 17-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints perfectly:
The pass game wasn’t good enough to win — and this time, no rushing dominance or defensive turnover brilliance or late-game heroics could save them.
“I think it’s just timing and rhythm,” head coach Dave Canales told reporters after the game. “But it’s also the choices. The type of passes. That’s something that starts with me.”
What else was clear post-game?
No one was willing to put the outcome on their third-year quarterback. Not the head coach. Not his running backs or receivers or offensive linemen. Not even a leader of the defense who spent 33:21 out on the field, including after two Young turnovers.
They all stuck to an agreed-upon company line:
This is not about Bryce Young.
“I think he’s throwing the ball great,” Canales said. “I think he’ll have some plays that he’ll tell you that he would like to have back. But in general, this is not about Bryce. This is about our group. This is about us taking a step so that we can be a balanced offense.”
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young, right, celebrates a touchdown with running back Rico Dowdle at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH Knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
Putting numbers to Bryce Young’s rough day
Young finished Sunday 17 of 25 for 124 yards and an interception. He also was credited for a fumble when trying to hand off the ball to Jimmy Horn Jr. on a jet sweep. Add all that up to a passer rating of 62.8. That’s not good, but it’s also still better than his average against New Orleans coming into Sunday — which was at 60.8.
Still, support for the quarterback in the locker room reigned.
“He’s been great all year,” Chuba Hubbard said of Young. “He’s a great leader. One loss does not define you. One win does not define you either. So, like I said, obviously everyone on the outside can blow this up to being something more than what it actually is, but we’re going to continue being what we are.”
As Jalen Coker told The Observer after the game: “I’m behind him 100%, so we’re going to come back stronger next week.”
It’s not like Young’s day was exceptionally worse than previous performances this year. That’s true even in wins. The Panthers’ what-felt-like-a-statement win over the Packers a week prior was all defense, all Dowdle and all down-to-the-final-second audaciousness; Young, himself, threw only 20 times and yielded only 102 passing yards.
The superhuman element of Young this season has been the fact that he turns into someone better when the game requires him to. Coming into Sunday, according to situational stats provided by NFL.com, his passer rating in the second half of games this season had been 90.4, on average, versus 72.4 in the first half. And his highest passer rating came, yes, when his team was “behind 1-8” points.
But with that element missing, and with other elements to complement him failing him as well, the Panthers’ passing game was lifeless. That left Young himself uncharacteristically and visibly frustrated.
When asked about the offensive struggles: “I gotta be better.”
On what happened on the interception: “Bad read. Bad ball. Again, 100% my fault.”
On the fumble: “I take accountability for that. Regardless of what it is, I touched the ball.”
A bad week of Panthers practice more to blame?
In lieu of Young blame, several players admitted that something else could have been afoot. Multiple players in the postgame locker room indicated that the team’s week of practice didn’t rise to the level of previous weeks. When asked whether Canales thought the team looked past the Saints, the coach said: “I certainly hope not.”
“I don’t think so,” inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom said when asked the same question. “I think maybe it wasn’t our best week of preparation, but we know every team that we play every week, especially division opponents, are going to be good. So we never overlook anybody.”
Starting left tackle Ickey Ekwonu agreed, but was a bit more direct about the team’s effort over the course of the week.
“I’m not going to say overlooking,” Ekwonu said. “The mindset this week, the preparation this week, wasn’t good enough. And I feel like it showed on Sunday. … Too many repeats throughout the week. We just weren’t locked in to the small details. And a couple guys spoke about it. Coach spoke about it throughout the week.
“You can’t get days back. If you have a tough day on Thursday, tough day on Friday, you can always look forward, but you can’t get that day. So that preparation, or lack thereof, is going to add up.”
And even with this all happening, from a bad practice week to some shortcomings in the run game and defensively, it felt like Young could’ve changed that. A day in which Young was turnover-free and creative — or at minimum, clutch — could have saved the Panthers.
The Saints bet that such a day wouldn’t come. And they were right.
It left the Panthers looking around, wondering where to point.
“It was a lack of execution on a lot of different fronts,” Ekwonu said. “So you can’t really put it on one person. Just speaking as an offensive line, we dropped the ball too many times today. Me personally, miscommunications led to a bad drive and a punt.
“So I’m going to take responsibility for my part in it. At the end of the day, we gotta execute better.”