After spending some time on the bench, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young made a name for himself during the matchup against the defending champs, the Kansas City Chiefs.
While Young showed considerable improvement in the last three games, his abilities were fully displayed in Week 12.
Even though the Panthers couldn’t clinch what would’ve been one of the biggest upsets of the season, Young’s passing yardage (263 yards and a touchdown on 21/35 passing) was extremely close to Patrick Mahomes’ yardage (269 yards), which says a lot about his performance.
Panthers Wide Receiver Adam Thielen Shares Bryce Young’s Message to the Team Following Close Loss
While Young’s thrilling performance wasn’t enough to beat the Chiefs, he confidently addressed the locker room. According to wide receiver Adam Thielen, he gave his teammates a motivational talk following the 30-27 loss.
During a postgame interview, Thielen shared Young’s words to the teammates, “Yeah, just confidence that in this team, and confidence in where, where we’re going and who we prove that we can be…And we, we lost the game, basically just emphasizing on that, like we could have had that, if we would have just, you know, finished some of those plays, get one more stop on defense.”
Adam Thielen said Bryce Young addressed the team after the game. A synopsis: pic.twitter.com/9ZJ7eIjNYi
— Joe Person (@josephperson) November 24, 2024
Young’s performance was so good that even Mahomes couldn’t resist praising the former Alabama star:
“I thought he played his tail off, man. He throws a really good football. I think it’s been cool to see him bounce back these last few weeks and play some great football. I know he has it because I’ve seen it for a long time. He gave us a scare today, man. He played his tail off. He’s been a great player for a long time and won a lot of football games,” said Mahomes.
While the NFL world raved about Young’s performance, the Week 12 showdown highlighted a few flaws in the defending champion’s defense just one week after the Buffalo Bills interrupted their winning streak in a 30-21 matchup.
The Chiefs will now play the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday in Week 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET.