Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young played his best game against the Green Bay Packers.
But don’t be fooled. It doesn’t indicate much of anything special. Everyone has a good game against Green Bay.
In the Panthers 33-30 loss Sunday, Young threw two touchdowns en route to a 312-yard, 23-for-36, 110.6 quarterback rating performance. Several have characterized it as a breakout game. And in some ways, it was, but in others, Young’s performance had more to do with Green Bay than the rookie himself.
Games always have to be put into context. Young’s performance looks impressive if someone drops in and sees the numbers.
But when placed into a context that includes quarterbacks like Tommy DeVito and Baker Mayfield winning NFL Player of the Week awards against the Packers’ defense, Young’s slicing and dicing looks like a nice aberration more than a guarantee.
He was playing an already suspect Packers defense with nearly nothing to play for in an end-of-the-season toilet bowl matchup.
At the same time, Young was due for a breakout performance. Every rookie, bust or not, at least has one good game. This was Young’s. Even he, after the game, was quick to not get too ahead of himself. He gave credit to his teammates, citing that it was a full offensive unit effort to produce the performance he had.
“I think it’s as good as we’ve looked as a unit,” Young said. “Whatever stats or whatever may say, you point at one person and say it’s a good game, it’s all of us. It was a good building block for us as a unit. And that’s all 11 — and plus with all the substitutions, of course. We all stepped up.”
Young’s rookie season isn’t one for the record books. He will most likely want to flush it down the drain.
But he did have a solid outing and almost pulled out another come-from-behind win — if only the Panthers didn’t run out of time.
Still, breakout performance or not, it has to be placed in context. Everyone eats off the Packers — it was merely Young’s turn. Don’t put the cart before the horse when it comes to the No. 1 overall pick’s development.
