Bryce Young Is 4-1 Against the Falcons. Can Atlanta Finally Solve Him?

The Atlanta Falcons have a Bryce Young problem.

Carolina’s former No. 1 overall pick has had his way with his division rival since 2023. The Panthers’ quarterback is 4-1 against the Falcons, with 1,133 passing yards (226 yards per game) and 10 total touchdowns. For reference, Young is a paltry 10-30 against all other opponents, with a completion percentage five points lower, a touchdown-to-interception ratio halved from 3.5 to 1.7, and 179 passing yards per game.

His overall poor performance when not playing against the Falcons has been so bad that it has put his future with the Panthers in question, and he was even benched at one point in 2024 in favor of Andy Dalton. Yet against Atlanta, he has looked like a future franchise quarterback.

The difference is jarring, but the sample size has only grown.

In his most recent outing, he led the Panthers' second-half comeback in their 44-38 Week 11 win last season – Young tallied a career-high five touchdowns and snapped Cam Newton’s record for passing yards in a single game (448) in that win, the third in a row for the Panthers and the fourth in a row when Young starts.

The first of the three straight wins barred the Falcons from the playoffs in 2024, with Young powering the Panthers' offense to 44 points on a hyper-efficient 73.5% (25-for-34) passing for 251 yards and three touchdowns.

Carolina enters Week 2 with the same 0-1 record as the Falcons, but Young’s 2026 is off to a strong start. He was outstanding against the Chicago Bears, completing 62.2% of his passes for 361 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in the 59-37 loss.

Young’s confidence is growing, and the Falcons will need to find the cure for their bogeyman on Sunday.

“He's going to test us in every way, from a coverage perspective,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “He's one of those rare guys that's better off the spot than on the spot. It's a guy that we’ve got to keep him where he's not very comfortable, and that's going to be a huge part of [our] what it takes, our keys to victory this week.”

Adding spice to the matchup is the Falcons’ secondary's pending health, especially the top dog, A.J. Terrell Jr. The veteran cornerback left last Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh with a shoulder injury, but he returned to practice Thursday after missing Wednesday.

Despite Terrell's injury, the Falcons’ secondary carried its weight last week, holding Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers’ offense to just six points on possessions that didn’t start after a Cooper Rush interception. They allowed just 206 yards through the air and sacked Rodgers twice in the loss.

But Ulbrich sees a bit of Rodgers in Young with how he can distribute the ball to his playmakers.

“He's a guy that's got some point guard to him where he can open it up, and very [Steelers QB] Aaron Rodgers-like,” Ulbrich said. “He's efficient. He sees the field really well. He's accurate. His timing is impeccable. So there's that part of his game.

“Then there's this other part of his game, the dropback, the play-pass game, where he's starting to build this inventory of understanding coverages, and the soft spots, and the weak spots. He's putting the ball where it needs to go, creating more explosives.”

Explosive offense was Young's biggest difference in Week 1. According to NextGenStats, the fourth-year quarterback threw for a career-high 221 yards on deep throws against Chicago, completing 64.3% of his downfield passes.

With the potential questions on the back end, the Falcons will need to create pressure on Sunday, and that could be the X-factor in this matchup. Young was pressured on 11 of his 41 dropbacks (27%) against the Bears, and Atlanta found a lot of success there last week.

Za’Darius Smith tallied a pair of sacks, and the Falcons pressured Rodgers on 13 of his 40 dropbacks (31%) despite sending a four-man rush on 88.4% of dropbacks. Young, however, will have far more escapability than Rodgers at this stage in his career, and the Falcons will be challenged to recreate that pressure without committing additional bodies.

Atlanta could collapse the pocket against Pittsburgh, knowing Rodgers wasn't likely to turn a broken play into a 20-yard gain with his legs. Young can.

That may be Atlanta's biggest challenge on Sunday. The Falcons found a formula last week for making life difficult for Rodgers without consistently blitzing. Against Young, they’ll need to prove they can do it again while accounting for a quarterback who has repeatedly made them pay when given time and space.

“When the front is playing four-as-one, as a whole collective and on the same page, I feel like we’ve got one of the best groups in the league,” defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus said earlier this week. “I feel like we’re going to show y’all that we’re one of the best.”

If the Falcons can keep Young in the pocket, win with four up front, and consistently force him to make throws into a healthy secondary, they have a chance to finally flip the script in this matchup.

Until the Falcons find a way to slow down Young, Carolina’s quarterback will remain a problem they simply haven’t solved.

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