DENVER — At halftime at Empower Field at Mile High — right after a bunch of Corgis raced — the Denver Broncos showed a replay on the videoboard of Von Miller’s strip-sack of Cam Newton early in Super Bowl 50.
Somehow even the lowlights from that Carolina Panthers’ 2015 season seem better than the few highlights this team is putting on tape.
Bryce Young started at quarterback for the first time since Week 2, but otherwise not much changed for the Panthers. The defense couldn’t get off the field, the offense packed less punch than those short-legged Corgis and the Panthers were soundly beaten by a superior opponent.
The 28-14 final score wasn’t as embarrassing as last week’s 40-7 beating at Washington. But that’s only because Young led a 98-yard touchdown drive in garbage time when Denver (5-3) was playing prevent.
Still, Broncos coach Sean Payton, a longtime Panthers nemesis, seemed disgusted that the Broncos let this offense go down the field on them.
“I said this, it’s not a good offense we played. It’s just the truth,” Payton said. “So we expected that, and we’re going to see a lot better teams.”
The game ended with Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn jawing at Payton, who coached Horn’s father, Joe, in New Orleans. Horn and other Carolina players were upset that Payton called a fake field goal (which was unsuccessful) leading by 21 in the fourth quarter, then dialed up a double pass that went for 28 yards with less than five minutes left.
“I coached his father. So I was yelling back at him. I don’t know what the exchange was, but his father I enjoyed coaching,” Payton said. “He was frustrated. I think he was yelling at one of our other players. I like him. I think he’s a good player.”
Horn wasn’t in the locker room by the time the media entered after the game. But special teams captain Sam Franklin said the Panthers didn’t appreciate Payton’s fourth-quarter calls.
“We just felt like it was something that could have been avoided, like you shouldn’t have to try to run the score up even though you’re already winning,” Franklin said. “There’s five minutes left. You guys doing trick plays, still trying to score. Basically just trying to embarrass us.”
Sam Franklin said some Panthers felt like Sean Payton was trying to run up the score and embarrass the defense at the end of the game. pic.twitter.com/gwVxbUk07G
— Joe Person (@josephperson) October 28, 2024
Franklin went on to say he feels like the Panthers “can run the rest of this table,” and suggested the Panthers would see the Broncos again.
This would have all the makings of a good ol’ trash-talking rivalry … if the teams played each other more than once every four years.
Payton interviewed with David Tepper before the Panthers hired Frank Reich. Love him or hate him, he has the Broncos pointed toward the playoffs in his second season and looks to have found his quarterback in rookie Bo Nix.
The Panthers’ defense has a way of making quarterbacks look like future Hall of Famers, whether it’s Marcus Mariota or Nix, who threw for a career-high 284 yards and accounted for all four touchdowns (three throwing, one running).
Meanwhile, first-year Panthers coach Dave Canales has not yet found his quarterback. With Andy Dalton spraining his throwing thumb in a car accident last week, Canales was forced to go back to Young.
Things started promisingly for the 5-foot-10 quarterback after the defense gave him a short field on Shy Tuttle’s fumble recovery. With Canales scripting a nice mix of runs and play-action passes, Young was 5-for-5 passing for 39 yards and a touchdown on the first opening-series TD drive of Young’s career.
Starting their second offensive possession at their 1-yard line, the Panthers (1-7) looked like they were just trying to avoid disaster. Whether that series took Canales out of his play-calling groove or he just doesn’t trust Young like he does Dalton to wing the ball downfield, the Panthers went nine series in a row without scoring.
One of those drives ended with a failed fourth-down play deep in their own end and two second-half interceptions on poor throws by Young — an overthrow to tight end Tommy Tremble and a fade route in which he failed to put enough air under the ball for Jalen Coker.
After the first INT, the CBS cameras caught Young appearing to drop an expletive in a rare show of emotion. Frankly, it’s the kind of response everyone from fans to coaches would like to see more of from Young.
“When there’s stuff that doesn’t go the right way, you get frustrated and you wipe it. I think we all have that,” Young said. “No one’s happy with the result today. We all come to the sideline and we have our time to be upset, and we wipe it.”
Young didn’t return under the best of circumstances. He was missing Adam Thielen and Diontae Johnson, his top two receivers, and facing a top-5 defense.
Young, who completed 24 of 37 passes for 224 yards and two TDs, played better than his first two starts, admittedly a low bar. The Panthers look to have found a gem in undrafted rookie Jalen Coker, who had four catches for 78 yards and his first career touchdown.
David Moore, the lone veteran in the Panthers’ receiving rotation Sunday, said he saw a more confident Young than early in the season.
“I feel like he was just being himself, being Bryce, playing ball and just keeping his first foot forward,” Moore said. “Had us going and kept it going through the game. I like the way he finished today. I like the way he started off and finished.”
Dave Canales noncommittal on who will start at QB next week. pic.twitter.com/TOMejuWh5V
— Joe Person (@josephperson) October 27, 2024
Canales didn’t announce a starter for this week’s home game against New Orleans, saying he wanted to monitor Dalton’s health. But the bet here is that if Dalton’s thumb has improved, the Red Rifle will be back behind center and Young will resume his role as one of the highest-drafted scout-team QBs in history.
But as we’ve written here before, Canales shouldn’t give up on Young just yet. No, Canales wasn’t around when the Panthers sent everything but Tepper’s desk to Chicago for the No. 1 pick. But Tepper and Dan Morgan were, and you’d think all involved would want to exhaust all their “developmental staff” resources on Young before jettisoning him for a fourth- or fifth-round pick.
The Panthers’ problems extend beyond the quarterback. Ejiro Evero’s defense let Denver convert 10 of its first 12 third downs and did little to slow the Panthers’ advance on the history books for the most points allowed in NFL history.
But Tepper’s not ending his 0-for-his-ownership playoff drought without a quarterback, which brings us back to the player they thought would be their franchise guy.
At his locker stall in a mostly empty locker room, Young was asked whether he wanted to be the starting quarterback. His answer was more diplomatic than defiant.
“I’m grateful to play. I’m a competitor. Of course I want to be on the field,” he said. “But again, I trust the coaching staff. They’re gonna do what’s best for the team. No matter what my role, I’m gonna do what’s best for the team and do everything I can to contribute to winning football.”
Winning football seems as far removed from Charlotte as the Rocky Mountains. But in the silver lining category: Carolina’s loss coupled with New England’s win vaulted the Panthers to No. 1 on the draft board, if the season ended today.
Mercilessly, it doesn’t. But hope might be on the horizon.
(Photo of Bryce Young: AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post)
