S Fowler take on Young and echoes of Newton

[raleigh-panther]

Some excerpts

With echoes of Cam Newton, Bryce Young leaves no doubt that the Panthers are his team now

BY SCOTT FOWLER

[email protected]

2 days ago

I know that was actually Bryce Young on the field Sunday, leading the Carolina Panthers to a 44-38 overtime win over Atlanta with a career-best performance in the season finale.

I know it was Young accounting for five total touchdowns and outplaying everyone else in Atlanta.

But what I kept seeing — and what I kept thinking about — was Cam Newton.

For the very first time in his two years as the Panthers quarterback, Bryce reminded me of Cam so much Sunday it was eerie. It wasn’t just the five TDs, and the very Cam-esque ratio as to how he scored them (three pass, two rush).

It was the absolute joy Young played with all afternoon. It was the first-down symbol he kept throwing up, just like Newton used to. It was the jump pass he threw to Jalen Coker on that overtime touchdown drive (although, to be fair, that was more of a Patrick Mahomes special).

But most of all, it was Young’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble on fourth-and-1, when he fired a strike and then turned around, his arms to the sky, before Tremble ever caught it in the end zone.

That was Steph Curry/Cam Newton showmanship at its finest. That was Young, showing some personality on a team that desperately needs its best players to grab the city of Charlotte by the lapels and say, “Pay attention to us again! We’re fun! Give us another chance!” Newton would later say on X that the play was “nasty” (in a good way, of course) and “Boogie Approved.”

Now let’s just get Young to work on a couple of things. 

First, can someone get Young to spice up his postgame news conferences? He’s unfailingly pleasant and unfailingly dull there, even after five-TD games.

And secondly, starting with the first home game of the 2025 regular season, Bryce needs to re-institute Cam’s old tradition of handing all of his touchdown balls to a kid dressed in Carolina garb in the stands. That tradition needs to return, and Young now has the credentials and the pull to make it happen.

As for the Cam Newton comparison, let me be clear as to its limited scope. Young has never had a season remotely close to the sort Newton posted, year after year, from 2011-18. The fewest touchdown passes Newton threw in any of those seasons was 18; the most Young has had was 15, in the season just concluded.

…..

 

For now, though, the Panthers have to focus on getting a lot better. They just missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season. My daughter is a high school senior, and the Panthers have been irrelevant nationally since she was in elementary school. They’ve still got 99 problems. 

But Bryce Young? He’s no longer one of them.

[MickMixon'sMetaphors]

And secondly, starting with the first home game of the 2025 regular season, Bryce needs to re-institute Cam’s old tradition of handing all of his touchdown balls to a kid dressed in Carolina garb in the stands. That tradition needs to return, and Young now has the credentials and the pull to make it happen.
 

Can he reach that high?

[Jon Snow]

25 minutes ago, MickMixon'sMetaphors said:

And secondly, starting with the first home game of the 2025 regular season, Bryce needs to re-institute Cam’s old tradition of handing all of his touchdown balls to a kid dressed in Carolina garb in the stands. That tradition needs to return, and Young now has the credentials and the pull to make it happen.
 

Can he reach that high?

Don't worry Hunt will throw him and the ball into the stands.

[Barney]

I set let Bryce be Bryce.  He does not need to carry on any Cam traditions, let him make his own and let his personality be what it is.  I could give a rip about how he acts on the field or in the press conference.  His confidence in the second half of the year has been great to watch as you could see it grow from game to game.  

[TLGPanthersFan]

The team ending the ball giveaway after Cam left was sad. 

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

CLT will be BY9’s city soon

[outlaw4]

I'd rather Young work to better his game than his press conferences. Given that he put the work and effort in to reestablish himself as the starter, I'm not overly concerned he's not going to give it his best shot. 

I feel that the ball giveaway is something this team has to earn by playing a lot better. 

Edited January 8 by outlaw4

[Gapanthersfan]

39 minutes ago, Barney said:

I set let Bryce be Bryce.  He does not need to carry on any Cam traditions, let him make his own and let his personality be what it is.  I could give a rip about how he acts on the field or in the press conference.  His confidence in the second half of the year has been great to watch as you could see it grow from game to game.  

100%

The Cam era was fantastic, but it’s gone. There’s only going to be 1 Cam. To ask BY to be more Cam like… not fair to BY. 

[cookinbrak]

It was the jump pass he threw to Jalen Coker on that overtime touchdown drive (although, to be fair, that was more of a Patrick Mahomes special).

 

Get used to hearing this.

[CC Rider]

Cam and BY couldn't be more different...

 

[raleigh-panther]

22 hours ago, MickMixon'sMetaphors said:

And secondly, starting with the first home game of the 2025 regular season, Bryce needs to re-institute Cam’s old tradition of handing all of his touchdown balls to a kid dressed in Carolina garb in the stands. That tradition needs to return, and Young now has the credentials and the pull to make it happen.
 

Can he reach that high?

Lol

now…that …was cold blooded 

lol

 my Southern Momma was 4’ 11”  sge said she was 5’ tall

 i didn't mess with her or correct her lol

I came  to well understand: 

“Though she be but little, she is fierce”  from Shakespeare’s  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Maybe it will be the same for Young.

[CPcavedweller]

Bryce is nothing like Cam, in his style of play or his demeanor. This may be Fowler’s “all black people look the same” moment. 
 

I get that he is pointing out what he sees as similarities but it took Cam four years to have a five touchdown game. The offense I’ve seen this year has, at times, been the offense I always wanted to see with Cam but never got. 

[CanadianCat]

Im fine with BY being boring for interviews. 

I did always think Cam handing the ball off to kids was cool. 

[KillerKat]

Bryce cant hold Cam`s jock.