Saturday’s preseason opener didn’t go how the Carolina Panthers probably wanted it to, coming up stale in a 27-0 loss to the visiting New York Jets. Nonetheless, lessons were learned and takeaways are to be had.
Here are our top observations from the quiet start of a new era:
Dragging on defense
The Ejiro Evero era didn’t get off to the most stout of starts.
Quarterback Zach Wilson and the Jets moved on Carolina’s first-team defense to open up the game. The former second overall pick completed four of his six chucks for 60 yards on the drive, including a costly 24-yard dump-off to running Michael Carter.
Before ending the possession on a 47-yard field goal from kicker Greg Zuerlein, New York converted on three of their four third-down tries en route to a lengthy 13-play drive. The Panthers’ starting unit was without outside linebackers Brian Burns and Justin Houston on that lone showing, so their lack of pressure on Wilson probably wasn’t that surprising.
Slogged mollies
After letting the Jets run off almost seven minutes of game clock to open the contest, the offensive line would proceed to put their own damper on Bryce Young’s highly-anticipated debut.
Young took on a pair of hard hits in his very first drive—getting smushed by defensive end Solomon Thomas and later smashed by linebacker Jermaine Johnson. His day would end two possessions later, when lineman Quinton Jefferson got home for a sack on a third-and-4 try.
The group would close the sluggish half allowing two more sacks of backup Matt Corral.
While the Jets are particularly deep upfront, this wasn’t exactly an encouraging performance for a group being tasked with protecting a very valuable investment.
Bryce Young is cool, calm and collected
Carolina’s Bryce Age got off to a cool start, even with the struggles of the offensive line. In fact, Young’s outing may have been more impressive because of them.
Despite those pops—particularly those from the first possession—the 5-foot-10, 205-pounder looked almost frighteningly cool over the course of his debut. Young displayed poise in the constantly collapsing pockets, peacefully went through his progressions and ended up having completed four of his six attempts for 21 yards on three touches.
At this point, numbers don’t matter—looks do. And Young looked the part.
