Bryce Young shoulders the blame for the Panthers demoralizing week 1 loss in New Orleans

Matt Alquiza | Sep 10, 2024

Sep 8, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) is tackled as he scrambles out the pocket by New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor (1) during the second half at Caesars Superdome. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Sunday's season opener was rough for Bryce Young and his Carolina Panthers teammates. The sophomore quarterback capped off a dazzling preseason with a touchdown in his lone scrimmage action against the Bills, raising the hype surround him and his revamped offense to a fever pitch as the regular season neared. The combination of Young's perceived improvement, Dave Canales' lauded history, and fresh faces across the offense had folks predicting a 180 degree turn around from Carolina 2-15 2023-24 campaign.

Womp womp.

Young walked out of the Caesar's Superdome with a paltry statistical output of 13 completions on 30 attempts for 161 yards and two interceptions. A highly anticipated 2024 season opener devolved into a laugher within a handful of snaps, and Young's struggles behind center were a major reason why.

In his post game press conference, Young looked despondent, dejected, rattled, or any other adjective that comes to mind for a broken man who continued his disturbing trend of failing to perform when the lights shine the brightest on Sundays. When asked about his two back-breaking interceptions, the Panthers sophomore signal-caller shouldered the blame for his poor decisions.

On the first interception: "I gotta watch it on film, but any time that the ball is in peril, it's a turnover, that's on me."

On the second interception: "I just tried to start the play and make something happen. I think aggressive. Aggressive throw, but inaccurate. So that's definitely on me. I have to do a better job of that. It hurts the team, or the situation, it hurs our defense...it's not great complimentary football so I have to do better."

Young later went on to say that he and his teammates needed to turn the page on Sunday's blowout loss and get ready for the Chargers next Sunday. Jim Harbaugh's outfit will make the trip west riding high following a divisional victory against the Las Vegas Raiders. At this point, it's fair to wonder how many more pages Young will have the opportunity to turn. 2024 was supposed to be a marked improvement for the Panthers highly touted number one overall pick, but week one was just more of the same for Carolina's biggest investment. The story of Young's career is a long way from coming to a close, but the ink that has dried thus far is a mess, and it's about time for it to get cleaned up. And he knows it.

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