Cat Scratch Reader
For all the talk about getting off to a hot start in Week 1, Head coach Dave Canales two attempts can both properly be described as complete failures. Watching the game on Sunday felt like Bill Murray waking up to “I got you babe” in Groundhog Day – that is, it felt like nothing had changed.
While in some cases that is certainly true, in others the team did show some more signs of optimism that certainly weren’t present after the first 60 minutes of Week 1 in 2024.
I’m not the first person to notice the similarity that unnerved even the most hardened fan at first glance. If you had to compare the two, the 2025 stat line is marginally better based on a higher completion percentage, an extra 30 rushing yards and 3 less sacks taken.
Thankfully, the actual performances in each game were not quite so similar.
That doesn’t mean that Young’s game against the Jaguars was phenomenal, only that his game versus the New Orleans Saints last season was so beyond terrible that even an below-average to average performance with some redeeming moments would have been several orders of magnitude better. For example, Young had a game offensive grade of 32.6 and passing grade of 34.7, both the worst in the NFL during the first week of 2024. In 2025, Young’s grades of 71.1 and 71.8 in the same categories ranked 19th and 14th respectively.
In 2024, Young’s receivers were not attributed a single drop. In 2025, the receivers had 3 counted drops: Ja’Tavion Sanders with a drop of a 20 yard pass, Chuba Hubbard with a drop in the two minute drill (next play was Young’s fumble) and Dowdle’s drop in the waning moments in the game that ended up being Young’s second interception. This does not include the 30 yard gain left on the table when Xavier Legette could not get his feet down inbounds and Tetairoa McMillan not bringing in a 33 yard touchdown opportunity on a well placed ball from Young. Any one of those go Young’s way and his stats take a considerable bump to match his on-field performance.
Still not a great outing overall, but certainly not one that should have fans calling for his benching again.
The Panthers managed only a single sack over the course of both Week 1 games. Congrats to current New Orleans Saints practice squad member Eku Leota for holding the honor of best pass rusher, with 1 whole sack, in the Panthers last two Week 1 outings.
The pass rush metrics beyond total sacks aren’t much better, in fact they...
