– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHARLOTTE — During the first drive of Sunday’s pivotal game for the Carolina Panthers, quarterback Bryce Young stood on the sidelines watching his opposite number, actually wearing his jersey number, take his team down for a touchdown and, in the process, broke an NFL record that was once held by the almost-unquestioned greatest signal caller the game has ever witnessed.
Whether watching what unfolded from the sidelines proved to be alchemic or total happenstance, Young then took the field for the first time afterward and proceeded to play like a mixture of Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady, putting on a master class that not only shocked the NFC’s best team, but sent tremors through the football world.
Young threw three touchdown passes against the league’s top-ranked scoring defense, including two scores in the second half on fourth downs, the latter a go-ahead 43-yard strike to Tetairoa McMillan with 6:34 remaining, as Carolina stunned the Los Angeles Rams 31-28 inside Bank of America Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Chuba Hubbard, who had lost his starting running back job during the emergence of teammate Rico Dowdle earlier in the year, ran for 83 yards and also had a 35-yard receiving touchdown on Carolina’s first drive.
That answer to the Rams first score was a sign of Young’s control throughout, as he went 15-for-20 passing for 206 yards. Along with the clutch fourth-down throws, Young hit Jalen Coker over the middle on a third-and-5 that sealed the game for the Panthers at the two-minute warning and the Rams with no timeouts.
At 24 years and 128 days, Young became the youngest player in NFL history to have 11 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, passing reigning league MVP Josh Allen (24 years, 164 days). Five of those game-winning drives have happened this season, including in wins against the Cowboys, in Lambeau Field against the Packers and now against the team that came into Sunday with an NFC-leading 9-2 record.
He may not, nor ever will be, Joe Montana, but “Bryce Cool” is starting to ring a bell with Young’s propensity to lift the surprising Panthers to attention-grabbing wins and put the team on the precipice of the division lead and, possibly, its first playoff spot since 2017.
Stafford threw for 243 yards on 18-for-28 passing, with his 4-yard pass to Davante Adams setting an NFL record with a 28th consecutive touchdown thrown without an interception.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer William Anthony. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 56 pictures in total.
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