But the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft could not be said to have shown improvement in Sunday’s game. The former Alabama All-American had the worst completion rate of his 12-game career as he completed 13-of-36 passes for 137 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions in Carolina’s lowest-scoring game of the season.

Asked at his postgame press conference if he’d just had his worst performance as a pro, Young said: “I haven’t watched the film yet.”

Young became the third NFL player in this century to throw at least 36 passes and complete no more than 13 in the same game. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo went 13-of-36 in a 10-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 16, 2007, and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia was 13-of-36 in a 27-14 loss to the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 9, 2001.

“I missed a lot of things,” Young said.

But the game didn’t get away from the Panthers until late in the fourth quarter, when Carolina kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a 41-yard field-goal attempt and Young had three fourth-down incompletions.

The first of those incompletions came on fourth-and-1 at the New Orleans 36-yard line with the Panthers trailing 14-6.

“There in the fourth quarter, we have an opportunity to go down and tie it,” Tabor said, “and we didn’t get it done.”

The Saints scored a touchdown on their next possession with 5:59 play, and Young followed with four consecutive incompletions from the New Orleans 24-yard line. That set up the Saints for another touchdown with 4:29 to play.

With Carolina now trailing by 22 points, Young threw incomplete on fourth-and-13 from the New Orleans 35 to end the Panthers’ final possession. Carolina had third-and-2 at the Saints 24 but a sack spoiled the final drive and led to long yardage on fourth down. New Orleans sacked Young four times.

Young also had fourth-down incompletions from the New Orleans 46- and 45-yard lines in the second quarter, with the latter coming on the final snap of the first half.

The Panthers’ game plan had been criticized this season for a reliance on short passes. But Young got his chance to throw the football down the field on Sunday and had a 32-yard completion to wide receiver Adam Thielen. But that was the only completion that gained more than 19 yards.

“We took a lot of shots,” Tabor said. “Obviously, we didn’t connect on enough that we wanted, and then unfortunately we didn’t get any (pass-interference) calls or anything along those lines. It’s a good secondary. It’s a really good secondary. But we had chances there, and we didn’t capitalize.”

Young said he was “super grateful” for the trust shown by those play-calls.

“That’s coach Tabor and (offensive coordinator Thomas Brown) instilling trust in us as a unit,” Young said, “and especially as a quarterback it’s my job to make sure that that’s paid off. … I have to do a better job. We were in positions to execute, and that’s on me.”

Young had 40 yards on three rushing attempts as the Panthers ran for 204 yards against New Orleans. Young had a 21-yard scramble on third-and-9 to reach the Saints 31-yard line and set up Carolina’s first field goal. Young’s other two scrambles also resulted in first downs, with his 8-yard run in the third quarter ending with the rookie getting flipped by New Orleans safety Jordan Howden.

Sunday’s game was Carolina’s sixth consecutive loss, and Panthers didn’t enter the fourth quarter trailing by more than 10 points in any of them.

Tabor said Carolina got a familiar result on Sunday “because we haven’t won yet, and we need to figure out how to win. That’s what we got to get done, and you have to keep chopping wood and keep going in order to break through. It’s just not going to magically happen for you. When your number’s called, you got to make a play.”

Carolina has the NFL’s worst record at 1-12 as it prepares to play the Atlanta Falcons in another NFC South game at noon CST Dec. 17 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We’re all sick of it,” Young said. “We’re all tired of it. But that doesn’t entitle us to anything. It’s on us ultimately why we’re there. We have to do a better job to prevent that, so no matter how tired we are, we got to be better.”

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