Bryce Young: âWe have to earn the right to win a gameâ

Quarterback Bryce Young will return to the Carolina lineup when the Panthers take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

The former Alabama All-American missed Carolina’s 37-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3 of the 2023 season after starting the first two games of his NFL career.

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An ankle injured sustained during a 20-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 18 kept Young off the field last week, but the 2023 No. 1 draft pick been a full participant in practice this week.

“Obviously, Bryce will be our quarterback,” Carolina coach Frank Reich said on Friday. “He had a good week of practice, so we’re full steam ahead.”

Carolina offensive coordinator Thomas Brown said he thought Young returned ready to go on Wednesday.

“It was probably his best day this fall,” Brown said on Thursday, “when it comes to not just the execution – he’s been really good when it comes to understanding the offense and being a fast processer – but the energy, the enthusiasm, stepping into a huddle, calling a play with conviction, coaching his guys up from a receivers’ standpoint, O-line up front. Just kind of being the maestro, if you will, when it comes to the offense, it was the best job in my opinion he’s done so far this year.”

The Panthers and Vikings kick off at noon CDT Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Credit to Bryce for being ready,” Reich said. “At the beginning, we were thinking one to two weeks, thinking it could be more two, but he’s done everything he can do to get back here. He obviously wants to be out there. We want him out there as long as he’s ready to go and play winning football.”

Carolina and Minnesota are among the NFL’s four winless teams. Young is more accustomed to team success during his football career than the Panthers’ 0-3 mark.

“You do have to process it and understand it for what it is,” Young said, “but at the end of the day, of course, it’s not the start we want, but it’s nothing that we can change now, so for me, and I’ve said it a lot now, with good or bad you have to figure out what’s next and you have to be able to accept that and move on and be constructive with it. There’s no dwelling on it. There’s no ‘What about this? What about that?’ because at the end of the day, it’s not going to accomplish anything.

“We have to earn the right to win a game.”

In his NFL debut, Young completed 20-of-38 passes for 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and ran for 17 yards on three carries in a 24-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 10. Against New Orleans, Young completed 22-of-33 passes for 153 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 34 yards on three carries.

In those two games, the Panthers scored 27 points, lost four turnovers and had one pass play that gained at least 20 yards.

With 13-year veteran Andy Dalton under center on Sunday against Seattle, Carolina scored 27 points, did not have a turnover and had five pass plays that gained at least 20 yards.

A shoulder injury caused Young to miss Alabama’s game against Texas A&M last season. Young came back to pass for 455 yards against Tennessee the next week, although the Volunteers defeated the Crimson Tide 52-49. Young said he tried to put into practice last week what he’d learned by being hurt last season.

“If you’re missing practice, if you’re missing a game, it’s not just a mental break,” Young said. “It’s not just, ‘All right, now I’m just watching as a fan.’ You still try to play the game from the sidelines. You still try to do everything you can to help the team. Do everything you can, in this case, to help Andy and try to communicate as much as possible, and throughout the week still go through the same preparation, still look through and watch the same amount of stuff just to keep yourself in that routine. Just being consistent and making sure that even though I wasn’t able to play, I still was able to get something out of the week.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.