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For the first time this season, it is a happy Panther Monday. The Panthers took down the Houston Texans 15-13 on Sunday in Bank of America Stadium in a battle of the top two picks in last year’s draft.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young showed why he was picked ahead of his counterpart C.J. Stroud with the best performance of his rookie season so far. Young finished the game with 235 yards and a touchdown while completing 71% of his passes despite being under pressure for the majority of the game. The rookie quarterback looked impressive throughout the day, but none so more than when helped lead the Panthers down the field on the final drive of the game which spanned fifteen plays and 86 yards and took the final 6:17 off the clock to set up the Eddy Pineiro 23-yard game-winning field goal.
The Panther defense also stepped up after a couple of rough performances in Detroit and Miami prior to the bye and shut down a Texans offense that came into the game playing well. They allowed just 229 yards of total offense, the fewest for an offense that came in averaging 347.3 per game. Quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was off to one of the greatest starts for a rookie quarterback in league history, threw for just 140 yards, the lowest mark of his career so far, and failed to throw a touchdown for the first time since Week 1. Frankie Luvu was the star of the day for the Panthers defense, racking up 12 total tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and two pass deflections.
The win also gave head coach Frank Reich his first win as the head coach of his former team in his eleventh game on the team’s sideline when you include the preseason. Reich, who was the franchise’s quarterback in their inaugural season back 1995, was visibly emotional in the locker room after the game as he made a speech to the locker room and handed out the first game balls of the season.
Longtime Panther voice Jim Szoke stopped by with the Mac & Bone Show this morning in his weekly spot and said that Panther fans need to just soak it in today. “Don’t worry about how it happened, just enjoy the fact that it happened and that they won.” Szoke was also happy with what he saw from Young behind an offense that struggled mightily again yesterday. “Bryce was so creative back in the pocket. He really created his own passing lanes so many times back there. I thought he had a great game.”
Listen to Szoke’s full sit down with the Mac & Bone Show this morning below and make sure to subscribe to the Mac & Bone Show wherever you get your podcasts.
