ATLANTA — Bryce Young packed his usual magic with him this weekend in the travel bag.

And so did his defense.

Young did what he's become accustomed to doing, playing lights out in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as the Panthers stormed to a 34-3 win over the Falcons on Sunday to improve to 1-1.

Young finished 23-of-36 for 287 yards and three touchdowns, for a passer rating of 116.3. Kenny Pickett came in to finish the final five minutes.

Young is now 5-1 all-time against the Falcons, with the only loss his first NFL start in 2023. The Panthers have also won five of the last six against their division rivals.

And with three touchdowns in each of the first two games, he joins Jake Delhomme (2007) as the only Panthers quarterbacks to start a season that way.

In the first half, as he pushed the Panthers to a 20-3 lead, he was 15-of-25 for 204 yards and two touchdowns.

The short touchdowns to Chuba Hubbard and Darren Waller were nice; the touch on deep balls to Xavier Legette (a 55-yarder), Tetairoa McMillan, and Jalen Coker were an even better sign, as they continued to stretch the field the way they did last week.

The 204 passing yards were Young's most ever in a first half.

Waller added a second touchdown to open the scoring in the third quarter, becoming the first Panthers tight end with two in a game since Greg Olsen (whose number he's wearing) to do that.

The Panthers also dominated on defense, racking up five turnovers (including another one on downs) and keeping the Falcons out of the end zone.

In the first half alone, Devin Lloyd had eight tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, and a pass defensed, while rookie safety Zakee Wheatley had a forced fumble, and linebacker Bobby Okereke had an interception (and what looked like a second was ruled an incomplete pass).

Lloyd's impact was immediate, and he made big plays throughout, including swallowing Drake London on a fourth-down attempt to turn the ball over.

He added an interception in the third quarter, which he returned 53 yards, one man away from a score.

That's the opposite vibe of last week, when they allowed 59 points and 552 yards (291 of them on the ground) to the Bears.

Poor Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush got booed incessantly by the home crowd, who wanted to see undrafted rookie Jack Strand. The Falcons deactivated both Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix, so they were nearly out of options, and they put Strand in the game late in the third quarter, after the Lloyd pick.

Lloyd immediately welcomed the rookie to the league with a pick-six.

It was that kind of day.

Injury update

The Panthers lost a couple of key contributors in the opening moments of the first half.

Safety Nick Scott was lost to a rib injury after recovering a fumble on the first play of the game, and he did not return.

They were also without key special teamer and backup linebacker Claudin Cherelus after he went down on a kickoff.

After a brief trip to the blue medical tent, he was carted to the locker room and did not return to the game.

Outside linebacker Trevis Gipsonwas evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter, and running back Jonathon Brooks was announced with a groin injury.