Bryce Young played perhaps the best game of his career as he led the Carolina Panthers to an overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons.
First Quarter
A holding penalty on the first play of the game effectively ended their
first drive before it got started. After the punt, the Panthers embarked on what’s been somewhat of a trademark opening drive. They went to the air despite the Falcons boasting a strong pass defense, and it worked. They picked up a 4th and 2 with a quick hitter to Xavier Legette. A few plays later, Bryce young found Tetairoa McMillan at the goal line for a powerful touchdown.
The game took a complete 180 degree turn after that score. The Panthers defense left Drake London completely uncovered on two long passes that totaled 71 yards. The second set the Falcons up on the five. Bijan Robinson took a handoff off tackle and ran into a swarm of Panthers defenders but somehow emerged to trot in for an easy touchdown.
Second Quarter
After a nothing of a Panthers drive, the Falcons marched down the field for their second touchdown. This one was much more methodical as the home team leaned on their star running back. Robinson picked up mid-sized gains on just about every carry, and it took everything in the Panthers’ power to get him on the ground on all of his carries. A screen to Robinson took the Falcons down to the one, and after a first down stuff, he powered in to put the Falcons up 14-7.
Another Panthers punt started a third straight Falcons touchdown drive. A few modest plays were followed by another intermediate pass to London that took the ball down to the two yard line. This time Tyler Allgeier was given the honors to punch home the touchdown.
Young found McMillan open on a crosser, and he strode for 39 yards to the Falcons 30 yard line. That allowed the Panthers to take their time trying to set up a score-halftime-score scenario. That didn’t help them any though. The drive ended after one more first down, and Ryan Fitzgerald knocked in the field goal to make it 21-1o at the half.
Third Quarter
The Panthers got the ball to start the second half and quickly made a game of it. Young found Coker over the middle for a nice chunk of yards after a first down. On the next play, he hit Xavier Legette with a beautifully thrown ball into the bucket.
On the ensuing kickoff, Natrone Brooks was loosely carrying the ball, which allowed Bam Martin-Scott to drive-by punch the ball out. It was recovered by Princely Umanmielen, setting the Panthers up in prime scoring position. They should have picked up a first down on a third down completion to Ja’Tavion Sanders, but he was slow securing the ball, which allowed the Falcons to swarm and stop him short of the sticks. On fourth down, Young tried to scramble for it but was wrapped up and thrown backwards by Kaden Elliss.
The Falcons were called for a hold on what would have been a first down pickup by Robinson, and that forced them to air it out. Michael Penix threw to incompletions, the second of which he took a hit that knocked him out of the game.
A swing pass to Dowdle got the drive moving, and a longer completion to a wide open Mitchell Evans up the left side moved the Panthers deep into Falcons territory. The drive stalled out after that, and Ryan Fitzgerald chipped in his second field goal of the game.
Fourth Quarter
Kirk Cousins took over the reins for the Falcons first drive of the fourth quarter, and is impact (or lack thereof) was palpable. The Falcons tried to lean on the ground game, but the Panthers were on top of it. They stuffed Bijan on 3rd and 1 to force a punt. A long McMillan catch and run looked like a threat of a go ahead scoring drive, but nothing happened after that and the ball was punted right back. The Falcons picked up one first down before three straight Cousins incompletions led to yet another punt.
We finally got a little bit of movement from the Panthers after that. Young was shaken up after getting fallen on, but he was able to thread the needle to Jalen Coker on a third down. McMillan was tackled just short of a second first down, setting up 4th and inches on the Panthers 33. Bryce handed it to Rico Dowdle for an easy gain of two. They were faced with another 4th and inches on the next series. This time, Bryce was tripped by Chandler Zavala while taking the snap and he couldn’t get up in time before he was downed. He was banged up again after being stampeded on in the chaos.
The Falcons again did nothing with the ball, but they started in field goal range and were able to capitalize with a field goal to make it a touchdown game.
Young returned to the field to lead a potential game winning drive. He got a quick pickup to Brycen Tremayne to start the drive. On third down, he had Chuba Hubbard open in the flat, but he airmailed it. He made up for that with a fourth down completion to Ja’Tavion Sanders. After a quick out to Tremayne, Rico Dowdle took a screen pass all the way to the endzone. It was originally ruled a touchdown, but after a closer look, Dowdle just barely touched out of bounds at the 10 yard line while slipping a tackle.
The Panthers were set up with 1st and goal from the 10 and a chance to win the game. The first play was a handoff to Dowdle that had no chance. The second ended up being a back shoulder to Dowdle that also had no shot. The third, Bryce started to roll out. McMillan, who was being covered by a linebacker, broke up the field and found himself completely uncovered for the touchdown. Young found Jalen Coker on a corner route for the 2-point conversion.
But did they leave too much time for Kirk Cousins? Kinda, but not really. Jamal Agnew got a big return, leaving little room between the start of the drive and field goal range. Cousins was able to find a few small completions to get into field goal range. He took a shot to Drake London on a third down to try to win the game, but London couldn’t quite real it in. Zane Gonzalez just barely squeaked through the game tying field goal.
Overtime
The Panthers won the toss and gave the ball to Atlanta first to make the Falcons put a number on the board. They picked up a first down on a screen pass to Bijan, but it was called back for ineligible players down the field. Kyle Pitts dropped the second down pass, then Cousins dirted third down attempt.
After a short run by Dowdle, Young checked the ball down to Tommy Tremble, who ran through several tacklers and held a stiff arm for several yards for a 54 yard gain all the way into the red zone. A few Rico Dowdle runs set up a 28 yard field goal for Ryan Fitzgerald, who knocked home his third game winning field goal of the year.
Overview
Of course when it seems like most of the fan base is down and out on Bryce Young, he comes out and guts through injury to play one of if not the best game of his career. Just something about those games in Atlanta. No notes. More of that please.
The defense had its ups and downs and benefited greatly from Cousins’ entrance into the game in the fourth quarter. They did reasonably well containing Bijan Robinson as well after some early tackling woes.
It was an all around strong performance for the Panthers after playing their worst game of the season against the Saints. Clearly they had a better week of practice than they did going into the Saints game. Now the vibes are high heading into a Monday night football game at the start of Thanksgiving week.
