Poor Bryce Young: Andy Dalton Put On A Passing Clinic For The Ages Today For Carolina
Well said, Stuart, well said. Poor Bryce Young, man. After 2 weeks of absolutely devastatingly bad football (no offense), the Panthers had to make the call that they never wanted to make- starting Andy Dalton in week 3. Wait, let me add some emphasis to that. Starting ANDY DALTON in WEEK THREE over their NUMBER 1 OVERALL DRAFT PICK that they TRADED THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE AND MORE FOR. That still underplays it a bit, but it's getting close.
And then all Andy Dalton did today was light up the Raiders to the tune of 319 yards and 3 TDs. Andy Dalton is 36 years old. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to turn into prime Tom Brady for no reason at all. But he did. And now the Panthers are obviously going to have to go ahead and ride Andy's red wave. You can't go back to the kid after the elder put on a performance like that. Obviously it would behoove (great word) the Panthers to tank the hell out of this season, but once you have the Red Rifle slinging it for 300+ yards, you can't go back to Young until Dalton falters. Or maybe Dalton is actually good, who knows! I mean not for nothing, he's always been sorta-good in that Kirk Cousins-y way. Never the best, but very far from the worst. Maybe the old guy still has a little gas in the tank and can lead some sort of miracle season down in Carolina, wilder things have happened.
As for Bryce? Well....this gives him time to get over his heartbreak
and maybe learn a thing or two before playing some meaningless games down the stretch. But yeah, not great for ol' Bryce. I'm rooting for him, hoping he's not another Josh Rosen who never makes it in the NFL, but it's a diabolical league when Andy Dalton can leave the early bird dinner and steal your job. NFL ain't for the faint of heart, that's for sure.