OPINION | COLUMN
By Tyler Davidson
I went to the game on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, wearing a brand-new Bryce Young jersey I had just bought, absolutely convinced I was about to watch him ball out in person. Reader, he did not ball out in person.
I’ll say it as plainly as I can: I have never had a worse experience at a game, and I paid $200 for the privilege.
The final was Tampa Bay 43, Carolina 13, on Sunday, Oct. 25, in front of an announced 73,195. The game was over by halftime. The Buccaneers scored 26 points in the second quarter alone and went to the locker room up 33-6. The boos came down as the team headed off the field, and honestly, the boos were the most organized thing Carolina did all afternoon.
The box score is as bad as it felt
Bryce Young finished 14 of 27 for 163 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked five times for 32 yards, and he lost a fumble that Tampa Bay returned for a touchdown. His passer rating for the day was 51.9. Kenny Pickett finished the game in the fourth quarter, which is football’s version of “we’ve decided to just go ahead and turn the lights off.”
The sequence that broke the stadium came early in the second quarter. Al-Quadin Muhammad beat Robert Hunt, stripped Young, and Calijah Kancey scooped up the ball and ran 32 yards for a score. That made it 17-0. Zyon McCollum then picked off a pass late in the half after Jalen Coker slipped on his route. The Panthers’ only touchdown pass came after the game was decided: a 50-yarder to Darren Waller.
To his credit, Young didn’t hide from it. “Obviously can’t turn the ball over like that,” he said afterwards, according to the Charlotte Observer. “A lot of that stuff’s inexcusable. Of course, that’s on me.” Head coach Dave Canales said, “I’ve never been a part of a half of football like that.” Join the club, Dave. There were 73,195 of us, and we all bought tickets.
Being fair to Bryce
Here’s where I have to be honest with myself, frustrated as I am. Young came into Sunday leading the NFL in passing yards per game (309.8, per the Observer). Even after this mess, his season line is 135 of 228 (59.2%) for 1,712 yards, 12 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 92.9 passer rating according to ESPN. He threw for 361 yards against Chicago and 329 against Detroit. Through six games, Carolina is 3-3 and in first place in the NFC South.
He also had nowhere to stand. The Panthers allow the third-highest pressure rate in the league, 44%. Tampa Bay blitzed him on 26% of his dropbacks, and his -0.71 EPA per pass was the worst of any quarterback in Week 7, per NFL.com, citing SumerSports. Right tackle Taylor Moton was hurt in the third quarter and is now out for the season after ankle surgery. Tampa Bay also ran for 258 yards and held the ball for almost 36 minutes. Baker Mayfield only had to throw 11 passes. That’s not all on the quarterback.
But those three turnovers are on him, and he said so himself. Fifty career starts in, the question isn’t whether Young can play. It’s whether he can stop a bad day from turning into a disaster.
The part nobody puts in the box score
Let me set the scene properly, because the football alone doesn’t capture how miserable this was.
It was very hot, we were all overdressed, and none of us respected the sun reflecting off the Bank of America Stadium like it was a giant magnifying glass aimed directly at our section. We were slow-roasted before kickoff. By halftime we were sunburned, sweaty, and down 33-6, which is a combination I do not recommend.
Thankfully, I had a couple of Topo Chico seltzers and my buddies to share the pain with, which is the only reason any of us made it to the fourth quarter with our sanity mostly intact. Misery loves company, and we had a whole section of it.
And then there was the Bojangles situation. Either the Bojangles was bad, or I was literally sick from the ass-kicking we were given. Honestly? Could’ve been both. The stomach doesn’t know the difference between bad chicken and watching your team give up 43 points. Either way, I did not go out after and drown my sorrows like a normal person. I took myself home to the couch, like a man who had just been personally victimized by a football game and a biscuit.
Oh, and I hate Baker Mayfield, too. The man always has something to say. Which brings me to the most embarrassing part of my Sunday, and I say this as a man who just admitted to going home early to his couch: I started Baker Mayfield in fantasy because Josh Allen was out.
So there I was, in my brand-new Bryce jersey, watching the quarterback I started in fantasy — the quarterback I actively dislike — beat my actual team without even having to throw the ball that much. Tampa put 43 on us mostly on the ground, while Mayfield stood back there like a guy supervising a construction site. I got the fantasy points. I got the loss. I got the sunburn. I got the stomach ache. A truly complete Sunday.
Thursday night, the whole country is watching
There’s no time to sulk. The Panthers play at Green Bay tonight, Thursday, Oct. 29, at 8:15 p.m. ET at Lambeau Field, on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. The Packers are 4-3 and coming off a 20-17 loss at Detroit. “We don’t have the luxury to lick our wounds here again,” Young said Sunday. “We play Thursday. You’ve got to turn the page. You don’t have a choice.”
There is some help on the way. According to NFL.com, Canales and play caller Brad Idzik plan to build in quicker, earlier throws, and rookie Monroe Freeling starts at right tackle. Green Bay will be without star edge rusher Micah Parsons (ACL) and ranks last in the league in rushing at 59.9 yards per game. Canales sounded sure about his quarterback: “I know Bryce … He’s ready to rock.”
What Bryce needs to do tonight
- Protect the football, period. Throw it away, take the checkdown, eat the punt. Three giveaways turned a bad half into a 33-6 halftime hole.
- Get it out fast. Take the quick throws Canales and Idzik are drawing up, and don’t wait for a rookie right tackle to win long reps against a pass rush that already has 16 sacks.
- Play like the September version of himself. Against Atlanta and Detroit he was decisive and accurate. That quarterback is in there.
- Own the moment. National TV, Lambeau, first place on the line. A clean, gritty win won’t erase Sunday, but it would go a long way.
I still have faith in him. I have to — I just bought the jersey, and the return policy on hope is terrible. But Bryce, my guy, my new jersey deserves better than what I watched on Sunday. My stomach, my sunburn, and my fantasy team all deserve better.
I’ll be watching, like I always do. Prove me wrong about Sunday, Bryce.
This is an opinion column. Sources: Pro Football Reference box score; Buccaneers.com box score; ESPN game page; Panthers.com Bryce Young game logs; ESPN Bryce Young stats; Charlotte Observer (Scott Fowler, Oct. 26); NFL.com (Joseph Person); AP preview via ESPN; Panthers schedule. Featured photo: Quintin Soloviev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
