Panthers Mailbag: Injuries Keep Piling Up, Bryce Young Keeps Improving & What Is This Team?

I don't know about you, but I feel like I've watched three completely different Panthers teams through three weeks.

Week 1 had me wondering if anything had actually changed. Then they went to Atlanta and won 34-3, and suddenly I'm thinking maybe I overreacted. Then came Cleveland, where they had every opportunity to win and somehow found a way to come home 1-2.

So if you're still trying to figure this team out, join the club. Now the Lions are coming to Charlotte for Sunday Night Football, and the Panthers' injury report seems to get longer every time I look at it.

Perfect timing, right?

With all these injuries, how much more can this team realistically take?

When I saw Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson were both going on injured reserve, I actually laughed. Not because it's funny, but because it's getting ridiculous at this point.

Both starting corners at the same time, right before Amon-Ra St. Brown comes to town? Of course.

And those aren't the only injuries Carolina is dealing with. Jalen Coker has been dealing with a quad injury, Damien Lewis has an elbow injury, and Monroe Freeling is working through concussion protocol. Freeling at least got back on the field Thursday in a limited role, which is something.

But losing Horn and Jackson together is the one I keep coming back to. Now Will Lee III, Akayleb Evans, and Chau Smith-Wade are going to have to take on bigger roles against one of the better offenses in football.

Maybe one of those guys steps up. Maybe Ejiro Evero has something planned that keeps St. Brown from taking over the game. I hope so, because I don't have a great answer for how you replace two starting corners at the same time.

Every team deals with injuries. I get it. But there comes a point where you look at the injury report and think, Come on, man. How many more?

I think a lot of Panthers fans are probably there right now.

Are we finally seeing Bryce Young turn the corner?

I knew we were going to have this conversation eventually, and I'm still not sure I'm ready to go there.

Bryce has 939 passing yards and seven touchdowns through three games. He threw for 361 against Chicago, followed that up with three touchdowns and no interceptions against Atlanta, and then threw for another 291 in Cleveland. If you told me before the season those would be his numbers through three games, I'd take them.

Wouldn't you?

But I also watched the games, and that's why I'm not ready to make some big declaration about Bryce after three weeks. The interception at the end of the Cleveland game was bad. Carolina still had a chance to win, and that's a throw he can't make, tipped or not.

I'm not going to defend the throw just because I think he's played pretty well overall. What I don't understand is why we're asking him to throw the ball 48 times while he's getting pressured on 51 percent of his dropbacks.

Maybe I'm oversimplifying it, but help the guy out. Run the football. Keep him out of third-and-long. Give him a chance to stand in the pocket without somebody in his face all afternoon.

So, has Young turned the corner? I don't know. But am I more encouraged by what I've seen from him than I was three weeks ago? Absolutely.

For now, I'll take that.

What do you need to see before you start believing in this team?

Can I just see the same Panthers team two weeks in a row? Seriously, I don't think I'm asking for much here.

Chicago was awful. Atlanta was about as good as you could've asked for. Cleveland was one of those games where I sat there afterward, wondering how Carolina managed to lose it.

That's three weeks and three completely different versions of the same team. Now here comes Detroit.

Would beating the Lions get my attention? Of course it would. Detroit is good, Carolina is beat up, and it's Sunday Night Football at Bank of America Stadium. If the Panthers find a way to win this one, I'm going to look at them a little differently Monday morning.

But I'm also not going to suddenly start talking about how Carolina has arrived because it won one football game. I need to see it again.

I want to see the defense continue what it's done the last two weeks. I want to see the offense actually finish drives instead of Ryan Fitzgerald jogging onto the field every time Carolina gets close. And please, can we not have Young throw the ball 48 times again?

Maybe Sunday night is when this team starts giving us some answers, because after three weeks, I'm still sitting here with a whole lot of questions.

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