Bryce Young's play warranted being benched but it raises more questions
A look at Young's benching. What's the plan? That and some other quick slants.
The bad time for the Carolina Panthers on the field began November 8, 2018, in Pittsburgh and continues today with no end in sight. The Panthers were 6-2 entering that Thursday night game six years ago and are 25-68 since.
For those that are mathematically challenged, that means the Panthers are 31-70 since the 2018 season.
Bryce Young - the 2023 No. 1 overall pick that has started 16 of those losses - was benched on Monday after he passed for a paltry 84 yards on 18 completions in a 26-3 home opener loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Young didn’t give the Panthers a choice. Frustrations started to flare up on the field from players. Gaining a single yard was just as hard as completing a difficult pass on the run.
Under Young, the Panthers are last in the following offensive categories:
First downs (18)
Third down conversions (2-for-22, 9.1%)
Points (13)
Receiving yards (245)
There’s a difference between merely losing games and being completely uncompetitive. The Panthers had no chance to win games with Young.
On top of his poor play, Young’s body language reeks of someone that has lost all confidence. The leader of the team cannot be someone that doesn’t believe in himself. That’s a recipe for the disaster, especially for Dave Canales when it comes to keeping the locker room together.
It’s an unfortunate situation for the Panthers but they have nobody to blame but themselves for how it played out. When they reported to camp, General Manager and President of Football Operations Dan Morgan said: “We have a plan in place. We have a process. We’re aligned in that plan and we’re going to stick to it. And I feel like if we’re disciplined and stick to our plan on building this thing, that we will build a winner eventually and I think we’re pretty confident in that.”
Do they have a plan? Was benching Young before week 3 included as a possible outcome? Can this organization figure out how to get out of this abyss?
Instead of riding out a plan or simply adjusting on the fly, they’ve lit the blueprint on fire and moved on.
Maybe Morgan and others in the front office knew deep down that this would not work but wanted to give Young another chance after the shenanigans that occurred in 2023.
There are still 15 more games to play and maybe we’ll see Young again toward the end of the season.
All we know is that Young likely isn’t going to be part of this organization’s future. Who knows how the next plan is drawn up or if it’ll finally work. History suggests that the bad time will continue. It’s up to the Panthers to learn from the past and get it right.
QUICK SLANTS
There was a lot of talk about having a “dawg” mentality. Deferring kickoffs doesn’t reflect that mentality. The Panthers have deferred the kickoff in both games and both times the defense has given up a touchdown. This team has nothing to lose at this point, take the ball and get the run game going with the road graders you have on the line.
Nobody should expect the soon to be 37-year-old Andy Dalton to lead the Panthers to the playoffs. The Panthers would like some better balance and complimentary football. They’ve held the ball for a total of 47 minutes 3 seconds, which is 31st in the league. The defense has been on the field for 72 minutes 57 seconds in two games. That split cannot continue.