Young gives ‘emotional’ message after Chiefs loss. It’s what Panthers wanted to hear
Adam Thielen had to catch himself after Sunday’s game, a few minutes after the Carolina Panthers took the reigning Super Bowl champions to the final second — and did so thanks to perhaps the best game of second-year quarterback Bryce Young’s career.
“We love that kid,” the 34-year-old receiver said.
He then stopped and shed a smile: “I call him a kid, but I shouldn’t.”
It’s true. He shouldn’t.
Not after Sunday’s performance in Bank of America Stadium, anyway, where the 23-year-old quarterback and 2023 No. 1 overall pick played up to his ability on the field — throwing darts everywhere, improvising his way into opportunity, confounding a Top 10 defense in the league in pretty much every category — and also lived up to his promise off the field.
“He had a little bit of an emotional talk after the game, which just shows what kind of character he is and what he means to this organization and team,” Thielen said. “He just had a little message toward the end. I’ll keep that between us. But it’s just a message of our confidence. Of who we can be.
“And we love that guy. And we appreciate his mindset this year.”
Young’s day against the Chiefs, in many ways, felt a lot like the game against the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Eve 2023. That day was one that allowed Panthers fans to dream of what Young could one day do — a showing he’d struggle to rediscover in the subsequent 11 months that saw coaching changes and a benching and trade rumors and more.
But in many ways, Young’s day on Sunday was more than 2023 Christmas Eve. It was the product of steady progression of success.
It was, both during the game and immediately afterward, what the Panthers have been waiting on.
“I’m gonna keep what was said in-house, but he definitely said the right things,” running back Chuba Hubbard said of Young’s postgame message.
On what Hubbard took away from what Young said, though: “We’re a great football team. We’re not quite where we want to be yet, but we shouldn’t be surprised that we can do great things.”
Offensive lineman Robert Hunt’s response when asked of Young’s postgame message: “He made me want to go play again right now!”
Ask Young himself of what made Sunday special — perhaps different than how he was playing a month ago — and he’ll say he’s “leaning on my teammates” more and that “I think it’s not just me at all” and “I’m thinking we’ve kind of come into our own with the system.”
Ask anyone else on offense, and they’ll tell you the difference in Young is apparent. The player who was playing rudderless football a few weeks ago is now 2-1 the last three games and has gotten better — and he’s doing so even as he’s rolling with the punches of seeing his wide receiving corps change: Diontae Johnson and Jonathan Mingo were traded; Thielen started hurt but came back this week; rookie Jalen Coker was out this week for the first time.
Hunt noticed the difference: confidence. He could detect it immediately because he’s seen quarterbacks robbed of their confidence before — take Tua Tagovailoa on the Dolphins, who got his confidence back — and knows how long that road of transformation is.
And Young’s confidence only grew Sunday, he said.
“We all know that it’s confidence,” Hunt said. “I think he’s starting to figure out where he likes to be in the pocket, where he wants to be, what he sees. He did the work. And he’s benefiting from it.”
Hunt added: “That seemed like a lifetime ago (when he lacked confidence). But I know the recent weeks, he’s been doing a really good job. ... And he did a good job today.”
Canales called Young’s Sunday a “statement he’s making to all of us.” When asked if Canales felt ready to name him a starter for next week — something he’s often avoided doing after games as he focuses on the “week-to-week” — the first-year head coach didn’t need a second thought:
“Absolutely,” he said.
“I just saw him playing decisive,” Canales continued. “And it comes with confidence and knowing his guys are going to be where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there. You saw a bunch of back-foot throws where he knew somebody was coming open, and the anticipation and all that comes from the chemistry of just building over these weeks. And so I was really excited to see some of those things coming alive.”
Canales was asked if Young’s performance instills hope of Young being the Panthers’ next franchise quarterback — something that Canales said he was hoping for even through all the tumult of 2024.
The coach shrugged.
“That’s really far in the future,” Canales said, before falling back on his week-to-week refrain.
But the thing is, it wasn’t all that far.
The future, it seemed, felt right in front of Canales, in the shape of his young quarterback, scrambling across the turf and into possibility.
This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 8:26 PM.
