Bryce Young keeps turning the Falcons into his personal comfort zone, and that’s the headache Atlanta has to solve in Week 2.
Since 2023, the Panthers quarterback has gone 4-1 against Atlanta, piling up 1,133 passing yards - 226 per game - and 10 total touchdowns. Against everybody else, the numbers look nothing like that. Young is 10-30 overall in those other matchups, with a completion percentage five points lower, a touchdown-to-interception ratio that drops from 3.5 to 1.7, and 179 passing yards per game.
That split has been big enough to put his future in Carolina under the microscope. He was even benched in 2024 for Andy Dalton. But when Atlanta shows up, Young looks like a different quarterback entirely.
The latest example came last season in a 44-38 Week 11 Panthers win, when Young authored a second-half comeback, threw for a career-high five touchdowns, and broke Cam Newton’s single-game passing record with 448 yards. It was Carolina’s third straight win and the fourth straight start in which Young had led the Panthers to victory.
That run included the first of those three straight wins, a result that knocked Atlanta out of the 2024 playoff picture. In that game, Young was razor sharp, completing 25 of 34 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns as Carolina hung 44 points on the Falcons.
Now the teams meet again in Week 2 with identical 0-1 records, and Young is coming off a strong start to 2026. In Carolina’s 59-37 loss to the Chicago Bears, he completed 62.2% of his passes for 361 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
Atlanta defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich knows exactly what kind of challenge is waiting.
“He's going to test us in every way, from a coverage perspective,” Ulbrich said. “He's one of those rare guys that's better off the spot than on the spot. It's a guy that we’ve got to keep him where he's not very comfortable, and that's going to be a huge part of [our] what it takes, our keys to victory this week.”
The Falcons’ secondary enters the week with some uncertainty, especially around A.J. Terrell Jr. The cornerback left last Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh with a shoulder injury, though he did return to practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday.
Even with Terrell’s status in question, Atlanta’s back end held up reasonably well against the Steelers. The Falcons limited Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh offense to six points on possessions that didn’t start after a Cooper Rush interception, allowed just 206 passing yards, and got to Rodgers twice in the loss.
Ulbrich sees some Rodgers in Young, too.
“He's a guy that's got some point guard to him where he can open it up, and very [Steelers QB] Aaron Rodgers-like,” Ulbrich said. “He's efficient.
He sees the field really well. He's accurate.
His timing is impeccable. So there's that part of his game.
“Then there's this other part of his game, the dropback, the play-pass game, where he's starting to build this inventory of understanding coverages, and the soft spots, and the weak spots. He's putting the ball where it needs to go, creating more explosives.”
Those explosives showed up right away in Week 1. According to NextGenStats, Young threw for a career-high 221 yards on deep passes against Chicago and completed 64.3% of his downfield throws.
That puts more pressure on Atlanta’s pass rush to matter again Sunday. Young was pressured on 11 of 41 dropbacks against the Bears, and the Falcons did some good work creating disruption last week. Za’Darius Smith had two sacks, and Atlanta pressured Rodgers on 13 of 40 dropbacks, or 31%, while sending a four-man rush on 88.4% of those plays.
The problem is that Young brings a different kind of threat than Rodgers. Atlanta could collapse the pocket against Pittsburgh knowing Rodgers wasn’t likely to turn a broken play into a 20-yard gain with his legs. Young can.
That makes the matchup tricky. The Falcons found a workable formula against Rodgers without leaning on the blitz, but Young has repeatedly punished them when he’s had time and space. Atlanta has to prove it can recreate that pressure while still accounting for a quarterback who can escape and extend plays.
“When the front is playing four-as-one, as a whole collective and on the same page, I feel like we’ve got one of the best groups in the league,” defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus said earlier this week. “I feel like we’re going to show y’all that we’re one of the best.”
If Atlanta can keep Young contained, win up front with four, and force him into tight-window throws against a healthy secondary, it has a shot to finally change the story in this matchup.
Until then, Bryce Young remains the one problem the Falcons still haven’t figured out.
In Other News...
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Even with those concerns about both health and performance, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has continued to speak in unmistakably strong terms about Terrell, publicly calling him the best boundary corner in the NFL. For Atlanta, that creates a real crossroads: the Falcons still need Terrell to look like a shutdown player, but now they have to balance confidence in his track record against the possibility that the decline is more than just a one-game blip. [Read more 🡒]