CHARLOTTE — The Carolina Panthers are still young. The Carolina Panthers haven't found the secret of consistency yet.
But the Carolina Panthers have also shown a knack for making big plays at the right times.
All those things are true of quarterback Bryce Young as well.
In Sunday's 23-20 win over the Buccaneers, the Panthers quarterback authored the 12th game-winning drive of his career, the most of any quarterback in the league since 2023.
So whether it's scrambling for first downs, or going full Harry Houdini out of the pocket to find Ja'Tavion Sanders for a go-ahead score, they're practically used to seeing him do things like this.
"I think if you just look at our games, no matter who the opponent is, the way we finish," cornerback Jaycee Horn said. "I feel like if it's close in the fourth quarter, especially with 9, if it's close with him, he's going to go win it. We're just a team built on resiliency, and we're going to keep pushing.
"I mean, I wouldn't say it surprised me, but you know it's definitely exciting to watch it. He's got you on the edge of your seat, and that was a crazy play, but you know that's what he do."
Young completed 21-of-32 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, finishing with a 102.5 passer rating. He added 20 rushing yards for good measure, but whether it was the 34-yard strike to Jalen Coker downfield set up Ryan Fitzgerald's game-winning field goal, or the dodge-duck-dip-dive-and-dodge move that set up the Sanders touchdown, he's doing it in all kinds of different ways.
The important part is that he keeps doing it.
This one stood as his sixth game-winning drive this season, one short of Jake Delhomme's franchise record of seven set in 2003.
"That's what we talk about," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. "Activate the second play, and that's what happens and Bryce just miraculously got out of some pretty tough situations right there, kept his eyes downfield and got us a touchdown."
They've come to expect that from him, and his head-down, on-to-the-next-thing vibe has also begun to permeate the locker room.
"I mean, it's just a testament of who he is as a person," veteran offensive lineman Austin Corbett said. "Of the work that he does, of the hours that he puts in in this building, meetings, of taking care of his body and just just being a pro's pro and for him to just continually step up as, you know, a guy in Year 3, it's awesome.
"Just excited to see how he's grown and to be a part of it, and just continuing to strain up front that the five of us are making his life easier, because he's real dang good when he's, when he's got the time."
Of course, Corbett was also a little sheepish, since he inadvertently made Young's life a little harder. The right guard stepped on Young early in the game, leading to a sack and a little limp, but Young was quick to brush that off.
"We're all playing through something in this time of the year," Young said. "It's football, you know, everyone's going through something. So, any chance I can to be out there with the guys, I'm always going to take it."
Still, Corbett felt guilty.
"Felt bad, not great," Corbett said. "A lot of gosh dang it, shoots, but I checked on him. He's a tough son of a gun, and I'll buy him dinner here for an apology. It's awesome to see what he was able to do on the scramble to JT, on the zone read, to be able to scramble there for that first down.
"He looked just fine and I know everybody when he was coming out, it was just like, how is he going to be able to handle these hits? Unfortunately you don't plan for a size 17 from your own guy stepping on you, but he's tough and I'm sorry, Bryce."
Corbett alluded to Young's running prowess, as he's continuing to scramble more as they get more comfortable in this offense and the weeks progress.
Young laughed when asked if that meant he was a running quarterback, saying: "I don't think that's up for me to decide."
But it also adds an element to what they can do, as he continues to build on his relationships with a young group of targets in the passing game.
"We'll give him opportunities," Canales said. "We love putting the ball in his hand in different ways, whether that's with the RPO or whether that's in the keeper game, and he's just showing me, he's showing me I can do it, I'm good, and we can continue to grow our package that way."
They're also growing in confidence, and that's the kind of thing that comes from results.
"I'm so proud of this group," Young said of the win that put them in sole possession of first place with two weeks to play. "I'm so proud to be a Panther.
The resiliency speaks for itself; we just know how to come back and refocus, good or bad, we try to flush it. And you know there's no quit in us.
"Coach talks about it all the time, finish. That's something that we take a lot of pride in that we carry into every aspect of who we are as a team, and for us not to just talk it but to walk it, to be resilient, to go and continue to battle, I wouldn't want to go to war with any other team."
He was talking about the team as a whole there. But every time he wins one of these games, it's the kind of thing they're saying about him, too.
