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No. 1 pick Bryce Young looks sharp, throws first TD pass in final tuneup for regular season
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Bryce Young certainly looks ready for the regular season as a passer.
His sliding? Well, that could use some help.
The No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft completed 7 of 12 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in his final tuneup for Week 1, but the Carolina Panthers lost 26-17 to the Detroit Lions on Friday night.
Young looked sharp leading scoring drives on his only two possessions, the second culminating in his first TD pass - a 16-yard strike to veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen giving Carolina a 10-0 lead. The heady 22-year-old rookie from Alabama also showed superior pocket awareness, scrambling three times for 21 yards and two first downs.
But one of his runs ended awkwardly with Young essentially squatting down on the turf rather than sliding to avoid an approaching defender.
“I never played baseball so I never really learned that,” said an embarrassed Young. “But yeah, a lot of room for improvement. I can't disagree with that.”
Panthers coach Frank Reich said the team needs to work with Young on his sliding so that he doesn't expose himself to injury. However, he likes what he saw in Young's ability to sense pressure and make plays.
“He has that instinct, right?” Reich said. “He has that in him. He has that make-you-miss quality even when a guy has him dead to rights. We've seen little snippets of that in practice. He has that stop-start hesitation move that is hard to figure out.”
Young led a 14-play, 52-yard drive to open the game, resulting in a 41-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro. A pass interference penalty on the Lions extended Carolina's second drive. Young took advantage when he found Thielen, who beat third-string nickelback Will Harris near the left sideline for the score.
Thielen finished with four catches for 48 yards after shaking off an early back injury.
Young credited his coaches and teammates for helping get him ready to start the season opener Sept. 10 season at Atlanta.
"Obviously I haven't played in a regular season game before and it will present challenges I haven't faced yet but I'm excited for that,” Young said.
The Lions rested starting quarterback Jared Goff.
Former Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater proved more than capable under center, leading four scoring drives for Detroit (2-1) in the first half. He finished 13 of 22 for 178 yards, including a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass to rookie Antoine Green in the closing seconds of the first half.
“He’ll only get better the more he’s able to be around our system,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “It was good to see. He was at a good spot, he was in a flow, he had great command of the offense and it’s just about being on time and on task under our system. I thought that he made some good throws.”
Green, the team's seventh-round pick from North Carolina, finished with three catches for 97 yards.
“That catch that he had where he ran through the dagger for the touchdown was big and that was a hell of a throw by Teddy,” Campbell said. “It was encouraging. It was what we needed to see.”
Craig Reynolds ran for 41 yards and a 5-yard touchdown as the Lions built a 20-10 halftime lead. Rookie cornerback Steven Gilmore returned a Jake Luton interception for a touchdown with 3:01 left to seal the win.
Andy Dalton made his preseason debut for the Panthers (0-3) after being sidelined with a back injury. He finished 6 of 11 for 60 yards and an interception in the end zone.
NOTES
Panthers running back Miles Sanders missed his third straight preseason game while recovering from a groin injury, but is expected to be ready for Week 1. ... The announced “feels like” temperature for the game at kickoff was 104 degrees. ... The Panthers and Lions meet again Oct. 8 in Detroit.
INJURIES
Lions backup quarterback Nate Sudfield suffered a hyperextended knee when he was shoved out of bounds in the third quarter while rolling out of the pocket on a third-down pass play. He slowly walked off the field after the play, then was carted to the locker room. He will reevaluated on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Lions: Open regular season at Kansas City on Sept. 7.
Panthers: Open regular season at Atlanta on Sept 10.
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Team Stats | ||
---|---|---|
Time of Pos | 29:04 | 30:56 |
1st Downs | 15 | 22 |
Rushing | 4 | 9 |
Passing | 9 | 11 |
Penalty | 2 | 2 |
3rd Down Conv | 6-17 | 7-16 |
4th Down Conv | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Total Net Yards | 315 | 341 |
Total Plays | 66 | 74 |
Avg Gain | 4.8 | 4.6 |
Net Yards Rushing | 83 | 112 |
Rush Attempts | 26 | 24 |
Avg Rush Yards | 3.2 | 4.7 |
Net Yards Passing | 232 | 229 |
Comp. - Att. | 20-38 | 23-47 |
Yards Per Pass | 5.8 | 4.6 |
Penalties - Yards | 6-41 | 4-56 |
Touchdowns | 3 | 2 |
Rushing TDs | 1 | 1 |
Passing TDs | 1 | 1 |
Other | 1 | 0 |
Turnovers | 0 | 4 |
Fumbles - Lost | 1-0 | 2-2 |
Int. Thrown | 0 | 2 |
Punts - Avg | 7-44.6 | 6-49.2 |
Return Yards | 125 | 48 |
Punts - Returns | 3-20 | 3-17 |
Kickoffs - Returns | 2-94 | 2-31 |
Int. - Returns | 2-11 | 0-0 |
Red Zone Eff. | 1-3 -33% | 2-5 -40% |
Goal to Go Eff. | 1-2 -50% | 1-1 -100% |
Safeties | 0 | 0 |
Passing | CP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | FPTS |
T. Bridgewater
5 QB
13 FPTS
|
T. Bridgewater | 13/22 | 178 | 1 | 0 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. Martinez
18 QB
2 FPTS
|
A. Martinez | 5/11 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
N. Sudfeld
10 QB
0 FPTS
|
N. Sudfeld | 2/5 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rushing | ATT | YDS | TD | LG | FPTS |
C. Reynolds
13 RB
11 FPTS
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C. Reynolds | 11 | 41 | 1 | 10 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||
B. Snell
24 RB
2 FPTS
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B. Snell | 5 | 26 | 0 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
A. Martinez
18 QB
2 FPTS
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A. Martinez | 5 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
T. Bridgewater
5 QB
13 FPTS
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T. Bridgewater | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||
D. Ozigbo
36 RB
0 FPTS
|
D. Ozigbo | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Receiving | TAR | REC | YDS | TD | LG | FPTS |
A. Green
80 WR
18 FPTS
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A. Green | 4 | 3 | 97 | 1 | 70 | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
D. Drummond
83 WR
9 FPTS
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D. Drummond | 6 | 5 | 46 | 0 | 20 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
C. Cota
88 WR
7 FPTS
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C. Cota | 8 | 3 | 42 | 0 | 21 | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
T. Benson
19 WR
4 FPTS
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T. Benson | 3 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
M. Alexander
15 WR
3 FPTS
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M. Alexander | 3 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
J. Mitchell
82 TE
1 FPTS
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J. Mitchell | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
J. Moore
11 WR
1 FPTS
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J. Moore | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
C. Reynolds
13 RB
11 FPTS
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C. Reynolds | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
J. Cabinda
45 FB
1 FPTS
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J. Cabinda | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
D. Daniels
86 TE
0 FPTS
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D. Daniels | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. Davis
WR
0 FPTS
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A. Davis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
D. Ozigbo
36 RB
0 FPTS
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D. Ozigbo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
D. Helm
43 TE
0 FPTS
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D. Helm | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Defense | T-A | SACK | INT | FF |
T. Walker
21 DB
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T. Walker | 3-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
S. Gilmore
36 DB
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S. Gilmore | 3-2 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
T. Nowaske
59 LB
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T. Nowaske | 3-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
C. Richardson
35 CB
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C. Richardson | 3-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
K. Dorsey
30 DB
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K. Dorsey | 3-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
I. Buggs
96 DT
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I. Buggs | 2-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
B. Joseph
40 SAF
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B. Joseph | 2-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
B. Breeze
35 SAF
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B. Breeze | 2-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
C. Lucas
27 CB
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C. Lucas | 2-1 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
C. Durden
90 DT
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C. Durden | 2-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
A. Pittman
57 LB
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A. Pittman | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
W. Harris
25 CB
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W. Harris | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
L. Onwuzurike
91 DT
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L. Onwuzurike | 1-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
J. Houston
41 LB
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J. Houston | 1-2 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
C. Covington
52 DE
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C. Covington | 1-1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
B. Martin
98 DT
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B. Martin | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
J. Campbell
46 LB
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J. Campbell | 1-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
S. Thomas V
49 CB
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S. Thomas V | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
S. Nelson
17 DB
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S. Nelson | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
J. Reeves-Maybin
42 LB
|
J. Reeves-Maybin | 1-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
R. Okwara
95 DE
|
R. Okwara | 0-1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
C. Smith
92 DT
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C. Smith | 0-1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
J. Okwara
99 LB
|
J. Okwara | 0-1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
M. Rodriguez
44 LB
|
M. Rodriguez | 0-2 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
Kicking | FG | LG | XP | PTS |
R. Patterson
36 K
8 FPTS
|
R. Patterson | 2/3 | 27 | 2/3 | 8 |
Punting | NO | AVG | IN20 | LG |
J. Fox
3 P
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J. Fox | 7 | 44.6 | 2 | 53 |
Kickoff Returns | NO | AVG | LG | TD |
Punt Returns | NO | AVG | LG | TD |
M. Alexander 15 WR
3 FPTS
|
M. Alexander | 3 | 6.7 | 7 | 0 |
Passing | CP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | FPTS |
J. Luton
16 QB
0 FPTS
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J. Luton | 6/12 | 74 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
B. Young
9 QB
10 FPTS
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B. Young | 7/12 | 73 | 1 | 0 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A. Dalton
14 QB
0 FPTS
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A. Dalton | 6/11 | 60 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
M. Corral
2 QB
4 FPTS
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