The Carolina Panthers got a harsh reminder in Week 3, and Bryce Young was right in the middle of it.
On the road against the Cleveland Browns, Carolina turned in its roughest showing of the young 2026 season, falling 21-18 in a game where the offense never quite found its usual spark. The Panthers managed just 18 points and 360 total yards, a sharp drop from the explosive, vertical attack they had been riding earlier in the year.
Young’s line reflected the grind of the afternoon: 26 completions on 46 attempts for 291 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It was his worst game of the season, but not a meltdown. He was dealing with constant heat, little help from the ground game and a limited margin for error almost from the start.
The offensive line made life miserable. Young was pressured on 66% of his dropbacks in the first half alone, and he finished the game under pressure on 64% of his dropbacks.
That kind of chaos leaves a quarterback scrambling for answers, and Young spent plenty of snaps trying to create something out of broken plays. For comparison, he was pressured on 39% of his dropbacks in his rookie season.
There was also the ankle issue, which briefly knocked him out before he returned and kept battling. Even with that in the way, Young helped engineer what should have been the winning drive. After Carolina took an 18-13 lead with 4:25 left, he finished an 8-yard touchdown pass to John Metchie III.
But the Panthers couldn’t close it out. Cleveland answered with an 8-play, 65-yard drive that ended in a score, and Carolina’s defense gave the lead right back after Young had put his team ahead.
Young also had a couple of misses that stood out, including one overthrow to Jalen Coker. Coker had gotten behind the defense, and Young sailed it 10 yards too far - a chance at a likely walk-in touchdown that slipped away.
The final dagger came on the interception that sealed it for Cleveland. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage, which lands on both Young and the offensive line.
Still, there were signs of growth in the mess. Young never spiraled, never produced a true disaster sequence, and absorbed a huge amount of pressure about as well as a quarterback can. If this is the floor, a 291-yard outing in his worst game of the season, Carolina has reason to feel good about what the passing game can become.
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