Seahawks hold Panthers Bryce Young to historically bad performance in Week 17 win

It was just a normal day in the office for the Seattle Seahawks defensively on Sunday. While the Seahawks had some offensive struggles in the 27-10 road win over the Carolina Panthers, the defense showed they should be the unit to fear in the playoffs.

Many experts claimed that Panthers quarterback Bryce Young would be a potential problem for the Seahawks and might be a reason why they pulled off an upset. Instead, the Seahawks pumped the brakes on Young’s legacy with a brutal game.

The Seahawks held Young to completing 14-of-24 of his passes for only 54 yards, an interception, a QBR of 18.3, and a passer rating of 45.8. The Panthers only had 40 net yards passing in the game. This performance from Young was not only bad, but it was historically bad.

Bryce Young had 54 passing yards on 24 pass attempts today.

That's the fewest yards by a QB with 24+ pass attempts since "David Woodley" back in ... 1980.
December 28, 2025
Young’s 54 passing yards on 24 attempts are the fewest by any quarterback since former Miami Dolphins quarterback David Woodley did it in his rookie season in 1980. This was the game where Woodley completed 11-of-28 for 48 yards and two interceptions as the Dolphins were crushed 34-0 at the New England Patriots.
The Seahawks knew the Panthers would drive the ball in only two different passing situations. The first was through deep passes to rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillian. Seattle held McMillian to only one reception out of four targets for only five yards, easily the lowest of the season.
The second way that Carolina tried to beat Seattle through the air was to get the ball out quickly to pass-catchers for screens or short-yard plays and have them run for potential first downs.
Outside of McMillian, the pass-catchers that the Seahawks needed to watch out for were wide receiver Jalen Coker, running back Rico Dowdle, and running back Chuba Hubbard. Seattle held them to eight receptions for 26 yards on 10 targets.
Seattle had a stellar game of suppressing Carolina's predictable offensive schemes and quickly reacted to the short passing plays and limited deep passes. It was a key reason why the Panthers were only 1-of-11 on third down conversions and accumulated only 139 total yards on offense.
Without the consistently efficient display from the Seahawks’ defense, the game would be much closer and give some Seahawks fans a reason to worry. This defense, however, shows why Seattle will be a serious Super Bowl contender once the playoffs start, especially if it clinches the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
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