Any way you try to spin it, quarterback Bryce Young did not have a great game in the Carolina Panthers' 21-18 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Coming in, we knew Young was more likely to struggle against the Browns' man-heavy defense than the zone-heavy looks he saw against Chicago and Atlanta to start the season. That proved to be true, and Young's numbers suffered—as he totaled 291 passing yards, but just one touchdown and one interception.
For his efforts, Young has earned an appropriate 'C+' grade for this week from Brent Sobleski at Bleacher Report. Sobleski writes:
Cleveland sacked Young three times and hit him on eight different occasions. The Browns pressured the quarterback on 30 of his 47 dropbacks, according to Syed Schemes' Tej
Seth. Carolina struggled significantly in high-leverage situations, too. Young and Co. finished a combined four for 18 during their third- and fourth-down attempts.
While this was far from Young's best work, the context was pretty brutal.
Not only did Young face a higher pressure rate than any quarterback in any game this season so far, but he was also essentially down his top three wide receivers—with Xavier Legette being ruled out, Tetairoa McMillan getting shut down by Browns cornerback Denzel Ward and Jalen Coker leaving the game early with a quad injury.
Although Brycen Tremayne did his part to step up with a game-high 83 receiving yards, nobody else was able to make a difference at this spot—which contributed to Young's pedestrian production.
The far greater concern is Carolina's pass protection, which was bad during the preseason and has only gotten worse so far in the regular season. Young has to perform better than he did this week, but you can only expect so much when he's under constant duress the way he was on Sunday.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers QB Bryce Young earns appropriate grade for Week 3 loss to Browns
