Takeaways from Panthers' road win vs. Jets: Young's injury overshadows victory

A major Carolina Panthers milestone was met with a potentially notable potential loss Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

The Panthers (4-3) won their third consecutive game — a 13-6 victory over the New York Jets (0-7). But the victory was marred by the second-half exit of starting quarterback Bryce Young, who left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

While Young put the Panthers in position to win the game with three scoring drives, his absence gave the Jets second-half hope. With backup QB Andy Dalton unable to sustain Carolina’s momentum in the fourth quarter, the Jets still had a chance to tie the game with two minutes remaining.

But the defense, which produced six sacks and a pair of interceptions by Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn, closed out the game with authority.

For now, the Panthers can celebrate the first three-game winning streak of the Dave Canales era. Carolina is over .500 after seven games, and the team will finish no worse than 4-4 in its first eight games for the first time since 2021.

But Young’s injury status looms large as the Panthers head home for a Week 8 clash with the Buffalo Bills.

Young does enough to win, but leaves with ankle injury

Young didn’t get off to a great start on Sunday. His accuracy was all over the place during the first four drives of the first half.

But with the game tied, 3-3, midway through the second quarter, Young found his groove.

He led an impressive seven-play, 52-yard touchdown drive to end his work in the first half. Young completed four consecutive passes — including a crucial fourth-down completion to Tetairoa McMillan — as he guided Carolina to pay dirt with a 3-yard scoring strike to Xavier Legette.

Young completed 11 of 18 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He avoided turnovers and had a 98.6 first-half passer rating after coming alive at the end of the second quarter.

After receiving the ball back after halftime, Young led the Panthers on another scoring drive. However, Carolina was forced to settle for a short field goal after Young made a couple of off-kilter throws to his tight ends.

Young sustained an ankle injury on the next drive, on a third-down sack by defensive lineman Jowon Briggs. While he was able to walk to the Panthers’ locker room on his own power, Young didn’t return to the game and was replaced by Dalton on the final play of the third quarter.

Young completed 15 of 25 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown for an 88.4 passer rating.

Dalton led the final four drives of the game, producing 60 passing yards on a 57.1% completion percentage. He had an 85.4 passer rating.

Defense delivers against a disastrous offense (and benched QB)

Ejiro Evero’s crew kept its momentum going in Week 7. The Panthers’ defense was largely effective against a pathetic Jets offense, which could barely muster movement at home.

Carolina held Jets QB Justin Fields to 46 passing yards in the first half, while sacking him three times. Though New York was able to produce 72 rushing yards in the first half, the bulk of the rushing success came out of QB keepers by Fields and fill-in Tyrod Taylor, who collectively gained 27 rushing yards on five runs. Breece Hall, the Jets’ top running back, averaged just 3.9 yards per carry in the first two quarters, and the Jets were held to three points in the first half.

The Jets benched Fields in the second half in favor of Taylor. And while the veteran backup QB was able to move the offense a bit better than Fields, he was ultimately sacked by Panthers rookie Nic Scourton on third down of his first full drive.

The Panthers held Taylor to 126 passing yards and two interceptions on a 45.5% completion percentage in the second half. He was sacked three times and had a passer rating of 25.9.

Horn essentially thwarted any possible second-half momentum by the Jets with an impressive one-handed interception in the end zone off a deep toss by Taylor at the end of the third quarter.

The Panthers finished with six sacks, the largest total for Carolina’s defense since Week 1 of the 2021 season — also against New York.

Hall, the Jets’ top healthy playmaker, was limited to 38 rushing yards and 14 receiving yards on 13 total touches. The Jets had 220 total net yards.

Awkward start for the RB timeshare

Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle split carries at the Meadowlands. Despite Dowdle’s dominant performance during the team’s two-game homestand, Hubbard was given the first series of the game, as the incumbent starter.

Both running backs were up and down early. Dowdle had a couple of nice runs and a 17-yard catch, while Hubbard helped guide two first-half scoring drives. But neither playmaker was able to really find a rhythm beyond the occasional quality pickup. That’s the downside of a backfield timeshare. It was no one’s game, and thus, there wasn’t a vibe to build on in the run game.

Still, the pair combined for 13 carries for 44 yards and two catches for 43 yards in the first half.

Dowdle handled the initial drive of the first half, which led to a field-goal score for the Panthers. He took advantage of some strong blocking to the outside to produce 23 rushing yards on the series.

With Young sidelined for the fourth quarter, Canales leaned on the running game with Dowdle. The Panthers were up by two scores and held all the momentum, especially after the Horn interception.

Dowdle finished with 79 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards. Hubbard collected 31 rushing yards and 24 receiving yards. Neither running back scored.

The Panthers will need to feel out the timeshare soon. Against a better team, the lack of consistent run success could have been problematic. With Young nursing an injury, too, Carolina will need to lean on its ground attack.

Sixth OL group in seven games isn’t ideal

The Panthers were forced to start former starting center, Austin Corbett, at left guard on Sunday. With Damien Lewis dealing with a shoulder injury, the team rushed Corbett (knee) back from injured reserve to play a position at which he hadn’t lined up since 2019.

Corbett is a natural guard, but he had spent the bulk of his career on the right side before switching to center last year. He played left guard during his first split season in 2019 with the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams, but moved to right guard the following season, spending four years at that position, including his first two years with the Panthers.

There were some notable hiccups early in the game. The run blocking didn’t hold up like it did with Lewis in the lineup, which is probably more of a credit to Lewis and less of an indictment to Corbett. But the overall group’s chemistry felt off in the phase that had been a glaring strength for the past two weeks.

The Panthers ran for 57 yards on 15 carries in the first half. Young, though, was only hit twice in the first quarter, which was a credit to the makeshift offensive line group.

The Panthers gave up their first sack of game with 4:33 left in the third quarter, and the pressure came on a simulated pressure, which involved a pair of pass rushers weaving across each other in front of Corbett and left tackle Ikem Ekwonu. Essentially, the Jets had to be creative to win at the line of scrimmage instead of forcing one-on-one pressure against the makeshift line.

The group still improved as a run blocking unit in the second half. The Panthers’ running backs added another 68 rushing yards in the final two quarters.

The line wasn’t ideal, but it got the job done. The Panthers should hope to get Lewis back in short order and keep Cade Mays at center and Brady Christensen at right guard. Corbett can then back up all three positions with Ekwonu at left tackle and Taylor Moton at right tackle.

Trevor Etienne has himself a day as two-way returner

Etienne, a fourth-round pick, didn’t get much play on offense on Sunday. But he was certainly effective as a dual returner in the Meadowlands.

Etienne set the Panthers up with great field position throughout the afternoon, making electric returns off both punts and kickoffs. Etienne averaged 11.7 yards per return as a punt returner. He gained 45 yards on the first kickoff of the second half.

A 15-yard punt return in the second quarter by Etienne led to the first touchdown drive of the game. Etienne’s big second-half kickoff return led to a 29-yard field goal.

The rookie running back has shown flashes of playmaking ability throughout his first seven games. With Dowdle and Hubbard dominating the carries out of the backfield, Etienne’s work in the return game is paramount to his trajectory as a contributor.

So far, so good.

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