Panthers PFF grades: Jack Plummer and Bryce Young both earn high marks vs. Bills

The Carolina Panthers had not one but two strong quarterback performances in Saturday's preseason win over the Buffalo Bills.

Aug 24, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Jack Plummer (16) throws the ball for a two point conversion against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

After the dismal results they saw last season, yesterday's preseason win for the Carolina Panthers over the Buffalo Bills must have felt like a veritable explosion of offensive production for fans. The Panthers racked up 414 total yards of offense and 31 points in their win on Saturday, and improbably got not one but two very strong performances at the quarterback position.

Let's see what we can learn from the team's Pro Football Focus grades for this week, which just came in.

Jack Plummer, Bryce Young both in top 5 on offense

To start the game second-year quarterback Bryce Young led a the Panthers down on field on what was about as impressive as any scoring drive as we've seen from this team in the last several years. Young went 6/8 for 70 yards, one touchdown, zero picks and a passer rating over 140. Young's instincts were aggressive, his throws were accurate and he didn't get rattled in the pocket the way we saw too often last year. Overall, this was a very promising all-around performance from Young, who earned an 82.2 overall grade from PFF, the fifth-highest mark on offense for Carolina this week.

Somehow undrafted rookie quarterback Jack Plummer managed to do even better. Perhaps knowing that he was playing for his spot on the roster, Plummer came out slinging and didn't stop until it was all over. In the end Plummer posted 278 passing yards on 21/29 (72.4%), two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 125.4 passer rating. For his efforts Plummer earned a 90.4 overall grade. Only tight end Jesper Horsted (95.2 overall) did better in this phase.

At the very bottom of the chart for Carolina's offense was rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette, who posted a unit-low 42.0 grade in 17 snaps. He was dragged down by a 43.2 passing grade.

Rough day for Carolina cornerbacks on defense

While it was nice to see the Panthers' offense thriving for a change, the defense wasn't able to hold up its end of the bargain - especially on the back end. Three of the four lowest-graded players for Carolina's defense yesterday were cornerbacks, with Quandre Mosely at the very bottom at 28.2 overall. Moseley struggled both in coverage (28.6) and tackling (24.0). Slot corner Troy Hill (37.6 in coverage) and the recently-signed Chris Wilcox (38.4 run defense) didn't do much better.

Ihmir Smith-Marsette standout on special teams

On special teams the brightest flashes we saw came from wide receiver/return specialist Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who did good work on kick returns (46 yards on one attempt) and punt returns (27 yards on two attempts), as well. He earned a 71.5 grade on the kickoff return.

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