CHARLOTTE — For Bryce Young, watching last week was hard, but he stayed engaged in a number of ways.

For Andy Dalton, not even what he described as a broken thumb was going to keep him off the field.

The top of the quarterback depth chart talked to reporters Thursday, and both said they felt great, from a physical standpoint.

Young, who missed last week's loss to the Bills due to an ankle injury, clarified that he does not have a medical degree; thus, he would defer to the staff on hand who do. But it was clear from listening to him that he's eager to get back.

"It's been great being able to be back out there," Young said. "I definitely missed it, so it's been great. Yeah, yeah, feel good. I'm going to default to the doctors, but I'm a competitor. I want to go out there and be with my brothers, so I'm doing everything I can.

"I just want to go out there and compete, and then you know, at the end of the day, the doctors will decide. I felt good today. I continue to feel better and better. So again, listening to the doctors. I'm going to do whatever it takes to play."

That desire to limit his absence to one week was evident in his approach to practice this week, but also in the way he handled the game last Sunday, when Dalton started.

"He's looked great; he was spinning the ball," offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said Thursday prior to practice, referring to Young's first work of the week, which was abbreviated. "He was eager to get full-speed tempo routes with all those guys. We had to remind him, Hey, this is a Wednesday. We're trying to get some of our guys' legs back, but you just love the competitive nature that he has. He's like, once he sees the game plan, he starts writing down, I need this concept versus this coverage. I want to get TMac (Tetairoa McMillan) on this route versus this kind of defensive look. I want to get this footwork to make sure that I'm prepared and I've gone through all those physical reps to have myself ready for game day.

"I'm really excited just in his approach. He didn't lose that last week. He was going through those mental processes, and then for him to get back out on the field, he's chomping at the bit, really excited to watch him today and full speed, closer to live action so we can get those full speed reps with the guys on the side, and in team periods."

Last week was the first game he's missed because of injury since his rookie season, and Young said he was determined to remain engaged on the sideline and help Dalton.

"You just change your perspective to being however helpful you can on the sideline," he said. "I want to be there for Andy, for the team, bring energy, bring juice. So I think that's a change of perspective, obviously. The competitor in me, and I'm sure everyone in this locker room, you want to go out there, you want to make every play, you want to be on the field 24/7. It's a league full of ups and downs, and when you're there, your mind is just shifting to how helpful you can be."

That also included some counseling. At one point late in the game, rookie outside linebacker Princely Umanmielen came to the sideline frustrated and threw his helmet. Young was immediately there, talking to Umanmielen and doing what appeared to be his best to get the rookie back on task and calm. Without getting into the specifics of the source of Umanmielen's frustration or what was said, he said that keeping everyone engaged was also part of his job.

"Obviously, you just want to make sure that everything from a team standpoint is focused in the right way," Young said. "He's a great young player, he's going to continue to be really good for us. He has a super bright future and, really obviously, you want everything to be about the team and everything to come together and be with your brothers. But at the end of the day, it shows that he cares.

"I saw him in the locker room, and he wasn't just, oh, who cares, like we lost the game. It matters to him. He has that fire. He has that emotion. You want to make sure it's channeled the right way, but I'd rather that than someone who just doesn't bat an eye at a loss or doesn't want to be better, and that speaks to his competitive spirit."

Young might have been talking about one of his youngest teammates with those words, or one of his oldest.

Because the Dalton that talked to reporters Thursday seemed determined to prove that he was able to play through what he described as a broken thumb. Dalton said it happened on the second series, when he threw a pass in the direction of Brycen Tremayne, on which the Bills were called for holding on Mitchell Evans. As he followed through with the pass, his right hand hit the raised hand of Bills linebacker Dorian Williams.

Dalton's been through a lot of right thumb injuries (including last year's in a car accident), so he knows the drill.

The thumb was still swollen Thursday afternoon, but Dalton threw at practice and was listed as limited on the injury report, though he insisted he could play this week if needed. (The team added practice squad quarterback Mike White to the 53-man roster on Thursday as insurance.) Dalton turned it over three times last week, but shrugged when asked if that might have played a part in the two fumbles.

"You know I'm not going to use that as an excuse for anything," Dalton said. "I'd love for my thumb to not be broken, but you know it is what it is. I knew that I had taken a hit, and then I still felt like I could function normally, so I didn't think that it was even worth really anything to talk about. . . .

"Not going to make any excuses like I said earlier, but obviously if it wasn't broken, obviously it would be a different feel there."

Asked if he was out for this week, Dalton quickly replied: "No."

"I mean, it's not ideal, but you know I can still work," he said. "I can still throw the ball, and so yeah, we just go from there. I think it's just more mental than anything. You try not to think about it, but I went out there, I threw today, and it felt good."

That mindset is common throughout the locker room because no one wants to come out of a game ever.

Dalton said he didn't bring it up with team medical personnel during the game, but Young said they discussed it briefly on the sidelines.

"Obviously, he didn't know what it was, but you know, he mentioned it," Young said. "But of course he wasn't looking to come out or anything that speaks to his character, to the warrior he is. He brought it up to me just because we can talk about it; I don't even know if he really even brought it up to anyone else, because again, that's the competitor he is.

"So him pushing through that, that's throwing thumb, that's not easy. Him pushing through that, not complaining, not looking for anything else, that speaks to the player and person he is."

They apparently have several in that room who will push it to get on the field, including Young.