Well, they kept telling us he was unflappable.
On Saturday, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young took the field at Bank of America Stadium for his first taste of preseason action. And unfortunately for the rookie, he tasted a bit of turf—quite a few times.
Head coach Frank Reich, who’s since had the chance to roll back the tape on the outing, commented on Young’s performance after today’s practice. He was asked about what he liked from the No. 1 overall pick.
“Just feel, accuracy, the way he worked through progressions,” he replied. “I like the aggressive throw down the field to DJ [Chark]. I liked the little short completion in the right—that man-to-man coverage—you need to make some of those completions, those tough coverages. I liked his demeanor when he got walloped . . . but I thought his demeanor on how he bounced back from that—I thought that was all good.”
Young was hit three times by the New York Jets defense—twice after a pair of throws and once on a sack to close out his start. Nonetheless, he completed four of his six attempts for 21 yards in an otherwise collected account—one Reich certainly took note of.
“He didn’t get the jitters, at all,” a smiling Reich would later add. “No evidence of anything—of being shaken. Not in the huddle, not on the sideline. In fact, it was the exact opposite.”