Slow starts still plaguing Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers five games into 2025

It was a flashback to the team’s second game of the season. The Carolina Panthers were in Arizona to take on the Cardinals. On the team's first possession, quarterback Bryce Young was sacked, fumbled, and Cardinals’ linebacker Zaven Collins returned the miscue for a score. The next time, the Panthers got the ball, Young was picked off by Baron Browning. It led to an Arizona field goal and Dave Canales’s team was in an early 10-0 hole.

On Sunday at home against the Dolphins, Miami owned a 3-0 when Young and company finally got the ball. The possession ended when he was sacked and stripped by Bradley Chubb, who recovered the fumble. That led to a Miami touchdown. When Carolina got the ball back, Young wound up throwing an interception to Dolphins’ safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. That led to another Dolphins’ touchdown and Canales’s team was down 17-0 early in the second quarter.

Yes, the Panthers came back to win, 27-24, and now have a chance on Sunday to get back to the .500 mark when they host the Cowboys. But the team, especially Young, has really made it hard on themselves with the early ineptitude.

Oct 5, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) scrambles in the fourth quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Canales’s club has turned over the ball eight times this season. Seven of those miscues have come via Young, four in the first quarter and a total of six in the first half. Throw in a Trevor Etienne first-quarter muffed punt that resulted in a turnover against the Falcons in Week 3 and that’s seven team turnovers in the first half of games. Is it any wonder that the Panthers have been outscored a combined 85-32 in the first half of their five games in 2025?

As for this Sunday’s clash with the Dallas Cowboys, Brian Schottenheimer’s team has proven this season they can light up a scoreboard. Carolina can’t afford to dig itself another early hole.

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