New Orleans Bryce’s house of horror. Observer

[raleigh-panther]

IMO Crux  Good Bryce. Bad Bryce and unfortunately, how Young goes is how the Panthers go   Big boy pants time for both Young and Canales    To me, the Saints have laughed at Young and the organization which selected him in the field the past 3 years    It will be interesting to see what the Panthers put on the field Sunday 

bolded a fee comments   Heavy boxes  is key

article For Panthers QB Bryce Young, Superdome has been a personal house of horrors

Scott Fowler

[email protected]

4 hrs ago

As all Carolina Panther fans know, there are “Good Bryce” and “Bad Bryce” days. When you get one of Bryce Young’s good Sundays — and those have been popping up more often in 2025 — you’ve got a great shot to win.

But when you get a “Bad Bryce” day, there’s not much of a chance. And there’s nowhere that Young — the third-year quarterback for a 7-6 Carolina Panthers team that is surprisingly tied for first in the NFC South — has played worse than in road games at New Orleans.

Young’s record in the Caesars Superdome as a starter is 0-2 heading into Sunday’s critical game at New Orleans (4:25 p.m. kickoff). Not only that, he and his offensive teammates have played terribly in both of those previous games, losing them by an average of nearly 30 points.

In the NFL, the Superdome has been a personal house of horrors for Young. His stats in those two games bear looking at, as painful as they may be.

2023 (28-6 loss): 13-for-36, 137 yards, 0 TDs, 0 Ints

2024 (47-10 loss): 13-for-30, 161 yards, 0 TDs, 2 Ints

Nasty, right? And we’re not even factoring in Young and the offense’s most recent dud against New Orleans — a 17-7 loss at home on Nov. 9.

The point this week, of course, is to win at New Orleans (3-10). And the Panthers are taking a different and more weaponized offense to the Big Easy this week compared to what they did in Young’s first two seasons — this one includes wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and running back Rico Dowdle.
 

Young’s nature is to walk through his NFL career with blinders on — never looking back and never looking more than a week in front of him. He’s not nostalgic. The past is never prologue to him.

So it’s not surprising that he answered my question about his previous lack of professional success in the Superdome like this: “We look forward…. I’m not a look-in-the-past type of person. It’s a new game. You can’t carry over the good or the bad.”
 

Having covered about two dozen of the Panthers’ previous 30 games in New Orleans, I can say with some certainty that the Superdome is one of the more difficult places for a road team to win in the NFL. The building is ancient by NFL standards. The noise reverberates. Football is king. Even when the Saints are bad, the fans are passionate.
 

It’s a great environment,” Young said. “Super-unique atmosphere. They have a great fan base. It’s fun to play in and be a part of that… and the challenges that brings, going into a hostile environment.”

Young is more equipped to deal with that challenge this year than he has been before. As he noted in his press conference Wednesday, his “overall command” of the Dave Canales offense is greater. The communication errors are fewer. His mistakes are down. The Superdome noise should (you would think) affect him less this time around.

And — if the Panthers can avoid getting way behind early — Young has been terrific in close games just about all season. In Carolina’s most recent game, Young led the Panthers back over and over, finally throwing a 43-yard touchdown pass to McMillan on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter for the deciding score in a 31-28 upset win over the L.A. Rams.
 

Heavy boxes are often catnip for an elite quarterback, because that means there are eight defenders very close to the line of scrimmage and a whole lot of room behind them for deep balls.

But the Panthers never could make that work. Young threw for a paltry 124 yards, a yardage total that was actually worse than in his two contests at New Orleans, as hard as that is to imagine. His 124-yard effort included a late interception that allowed the Saints to seal the game.

This game will be the first time Young has played an NFL contest in December when the Panthers are still in the thick of a division race. “It’s a cool fact,” Young said. “But again we understand that in this league, we’re not entitled to anything.”
 

If the Panthers are to win Sunday, though, they’re going to need more than a cameo appearance from “Good Bryce.” Carolina has a real opportunity to do something nice this December.

To do so, Young has to be at the center of it, and “Bad Bryce” must be left outside the Superdome on Bourbon Street. He can watch the game from a sports bar or something. He just can’t show up.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by raleigh-panther
Spelling

[CRA]

Bryce plays his best football vs Atlanta 

and his worst vs the Saints.  And it's not just in the dome, he has been bad in every single Saints game. 

two completely polar opposite trends and both represent the extreme ends of the Bryce spectrum. 

[raleigh-panther]

8 minutes ago, CRA said:

Bryce plays his best football vs Atlanta 

and his worst vs the Saints.  And it's not just in the dome, he has been bad in every single Saints game. 

two completely polar opposite trends and both represent the extreme ends of the Bryce spectrum. 

He and canales need to break that trend 

time to adjust and go forward 

I dont have faith about this game.  I want to but….

‘deer in the headlights Bryce’ or ‘sleep walking Bryce’ cant show up Sunday

i dont know, with loaded box,  if he cant  see over the line, cant process what he sees, he panics, or the hot read isnt there but Canales needs to find a max protect and an outlet for the little fella

 

Edited 5 hours ago by raleigh-panther

[OneBadCat]

We need to be aggressive and hit big plays early to back the safeties up. Then run Rico and Chuba. 
 

I don’t expect another bad luck game from Horn either. If the team comes out determined I think we’ll win handily. 

[CRA]

8 minutes ago, OneBadCat said:

We need to be aggressive and hit big plays early to back the safeties up. Then run Rico and Chuba. 
 

I don’t expect another bad luck game from Horn either. If the team comes out determined I think we’ll win handily. 

That seems like a bad gameplan IMO.  Just run the RBs.  Hope no one on D has a disaster game.  Play for the turnovers. 

Bryce's downfield throwing doesn't really work as means to back the S off.  Never really has.   That's how his bad play happens IMO.  Canales basically has to wait it out and find the looks Bryce might can take advantage of.  Which is man coverage/single coverage and you don't roll that dice often.  

Crowded boxes are a risk/reward strategy.  One mistake and your RB can make some really big plays.  

[Donald LaFell]

29 minutes ago, OneBadCat said:

We need to be aggressive and hit big plays early to back the safeties up. Then run Rico and Chuba. 
 

I don’t expect another bad luck game from Horn either. If the team comes out determined I think we’ll win handily. 

I forgot about that. Worst game of Horn’s career by far. One of those felt like he was trying to sell the OPI too hard when he fell. Looking forward to redemption. 

[CRA]

9 minutes ago, Donald LaFell said:

I forgot about that. Worst game of Horn’s career by far. One of those felt like he was trying to sell the OPI too hard when he fell. Looking forward to redemption. 

I still think the game he shadowed Nuk Hopkins was his worst.  Horn just fell on one.  Life happens.  Not bad DB play.  I so think it it's a little over generous to give him both as pure trips/slips.  They were brutal plays but he was largely solid outside of those 2 random plays.  Nuk I think got in his head and he was just really bad that whole game. 

[CanadianCat]

Canales coming off a bye.. Bryce cooks!

[WUnderhill]

They have to be committed early to making NO pay for heavy boxes, and they can’t give up that mentality if it doesn’t work a time or two. I think Legette will have to be good. The Rams made a mistake on that Tmac touchdown when the single high safety covered Legette instead of Tmac. If that ball goes Legette’s way there is a much higher probability of failure; as a safety, you cover Tmac and rely on Legette to be a bonehead. I think the Saints players know better than the Rams who to shade coverage to no matter how much Bryce tries to look them off.

[raleigh-panther]

53 minutes ago, WUnderhill said:

They have to be committed early to making NO pay for heavy boxes, and they can’t give up that mentality if it doesn’t work a time or two. I think Legette will have to be good. The Rams made a mistake on that Tmac touchdown when the single high safety covered Legette instead of Tmac. If that ball goes Legette’s way there is a much higher probability of failure; as a safety, you cover Tmac and rely on Legette to be a bonehead. I think the Saints players know better than the Rams who to shade coverage to no matter how much Bryce tries to look them off.

Agree

XL, who knows   More and more he is a blocker and a decoy but Coker and the little fella seem to be developing a relationship 

The defense too, needs to be disciplined.  That NO QB really likes to run.  If,they can’t sack him, and stats show Panthers are number 31 in sacks, then stay in your gap…give him a couple of yards and hit him everythime he does it with more than one player

Damned d line needs to get their hands up,as well 

you’d think playing a 3 and 10 team, would be an easy task but there are no easy games in the nfl.  

Edited 2 hours ago by raleigh-panther

[Khyber53]

Historically, it's not just Bryce that has been the problem in those New Orleans away games. Our defense shat the bed each time, too.

Early career QBs always need a stout defense and he's not had much of one until the halfway mark in this season. 

If they can turn it on and give Bryce more opportunities while keeping Saints points off the board, then we can come away with the win we should be capable of achieving. That's a rookie QB that the Saints are putting out there (one with more tape than the last time we saw him), they've got some injuries and a very limited slate of things to play for. 

I hope we can play defense, lean on Rico and Chuba, get an efficient game from Bryce and build a more solid case for a playoff spot. 

In other words, play like the football team you're supposed to be.

[L-TownCat]

This team rarely does the expected thing.  It’s a literal coin flip as to what version of the 2025 Panthers takes the field Sunday.

We’ll either win close, or get dog walked.  That’s just the way this team operates.

[OneBadCat]

3 hours ago, CRA said:

That seems like a bad gameplan IMO.  Just run the RBs.  Hope no one on D has a disaster game.  Play for the turnovers. 

Bryce's downfield throwing doesn't really work as means to back the S off.  Never really has.   That's how his bad play happens IMO.  Canales basically has to wait it out and find the looks Bryce might can take advantage of.  Which is man coverage/single coverage and you don't roll that dice often.  

Crowded boxes are a risk/reward strategy.  One mistake and your RB can make some really big plays.  

I think we have to hit that head on and show that Bryce can exploit it. If we don't and squeak by with some Rico runs we will run into the same problem down the road and get shut down.  Not totally disagreeing with your assessment but we need to show adaptability.  

I'm not in favor of shielding Bryce. Let him sink or swim, I'm already convinced Canales is the guy for the time being.

[csx]

Rico and Chubba and the OL

Canales not trying to force BY 

Edited 37 minutes ago by csx