‘I know he has it’: Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes praises Panthers QB Bryce Young after game
Bryce Young did the sorts of things Carolina Panther fans have long dreamed about Sunday. For 59 minutes, he went toe to toe and throw for throw with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback in the NFL.
Then Mahomes did a couple of Mahomes things, and the Chiefs won, 30-27, in Charlotte on a final-play field goal. But Young still had what I thought was his best game ever as a Panther, lending some hope to a Carolina QB future that was once so uncertain that Young got benched after only two games earlier this year and only got his job back because of a car wreck.
Yet, with Carolina down 27-16 starting the final quarter, Young engineered two scoring drives to tie the game 27-all and potential overtime, only to see Mahomes finally trump him at the end.
“I thought he played his tail off, man,” Mahomes said of Young.
Kansas City coach Andy Reid said of Young: “I think he did a heck of a job. … He’s very talented. The organization made a nice move by taking him.”
Reid, of course, was referring to the Panthers’ controversial move to trade up for Young and take him No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft.
For most of the past 18 months, that has looked like an extremely regrettable decision. But for the past month — in which the Panthers have gone 2-1 and now lost only to the two-time defending Super Bowl champions — Young has looked like the NFL player he was supposed to be as a Heisman Trophy winner coming out of Alabama.
That’s also the way you play if you’re trying to win your fan base back. Bank of America Stadium stayed full to the end Sunday. And although half the crowd was probably Chiefs fans, the Panthers fans made plenty of noise and were on their feet for much of that last frenetic quarter.
An 11-point favorite, Kansas City improved to an NFL-best 10-1. Carolina dropped to 3-8. But it truly was close, and the nearest thing to a moral victory you’ll get in a loss.
Young ended up throwing for 263 yards against a Chiefs defense ranked No. 4 in the NFL in yards allowed per game. Mahomes threw for 269. Neither one turned over the ball. The difference ended up being that Mahomes threw three touchdown passes to Young’s one, and Mahomes also executed a nifty, I’m going-out-of-bounds-no-I’m-not 33-yard scramble on the final drive that set Kansas City up for Spencer Shrader’s game-winning 31-yard field goal at the buzzer.
Mahomes needed to do that because the Panthers made him. Down 27-19, Young drove the Panthers 51 yards for a touchdown and a two-point conversion with 1:46 to go after a strong defensive stand from Carolina (which sacked Mahomes five times). Young picked up a difficult fourth-and-3 along the way.
And time and again Sunday, Young faced a Kansas City blitz and beat it. He often did that while backpedaling and still keeping his eyes downfield, rather than bailing out of the pocket and throwing the ball out of bounds as he did so often earlier in his career.
“You saw a bunch of back-foot throws where he knew somebody was coming open,” Panthers coach Dave Canales said of Young.
“We’ve all kind of come into our own within the system,” Young said.
Canales is careful not to praise Young too exorbitantly, though. He has played it close to the vest regarding Young all year, especially after benching him in favor of veteran Andy Dalton after the second-year QB had two horrid offensive performances to begin the season. Young wasn’t happy about that, although at the time I agreed with the decision. He was playing terribly.
Dalton then started five games in a row, going 1-4, before getting in a car wreck, spraining his thumb and having to make way for Young again in one of those situations you just can’t make up.
Given a second chance, Young has been a lot better, as has an offense that is relying heavily on young players at the skill positions. He played well enough Sunday that Canales said he would start next week at home vs. Tampa Bay, which was a departure. Canales has generally waited at least a day or more to name Young as starter over the past several weeks.
But Canales isn’t ready to call Young the Panthers’ franchise quarterback — although that’s certainly what Young was drafted to be, by a different coach and general manager. Whenever he’s asked a long-range question like that, Canales deflects as he did Sunday, saying: “That’s really far in the future.”
And to be fair, Young didn’t actually win this game. The Panthers moved the ball well between the 20s but had to settle for four field goals under 40 yards Sunday. If they had scored touchdowns on a couple of those, they probably would have pulled the monumental upset. Young is now 4-18 as a starter (2-4 this year).
He made an impact on Mahomes, however, who has known of Young for years.
“He throws a really good football,” Mahomes said of Young. “You know it’s funny — I think Texas Tech was the first one to offer him when he was in eighth grade. And I was at Texas Tech. I remember watching his highlight tapes then. I knew he was going to be a great player. … It’s been cool to see him bounce back these past few weeks and play some great football, because I know he has it. I’ve seen it for a long time. He gave us a scare today, man.”
Mahomes joked that he wasn’t threatened by eighth-grade Bryce Young after seeing his highlight tapes, though, because he figured he’d be finished at Texas Tech before Young (who ended up going to Alabama) ever went there.
Now make no mistake that Mahomes was the best quarterback on the field Sunday. He’s a lot more of a running threat than Young. And on one of his two touchdown passes to tight end Noah Gray, Mahomes told Gray what coverage Carolina would be in beforehand.
“Pat gave me the answer to the test,” Gray said.
But the gap wasn’t as wide as anticipated.
And Young stepped up after the game was over, addressing his teammates in the locker room and telling them that a well-played game like Sunday’s was only the beginning. If that’s really true, maybe the Panthers’ future isn’t as dire as we thought.
