“He’s Blossomed” Rich on Bryce Young’s Big Night in Panthers SNF Win vs the Lions

Rich has a confession to make about Bryce Young, and he is not making it alone.

"Everybody in the NFL media, or people who talk about this stuff for a living, have to raise their hands and say, 'Boy, were we wrong,'" Rich said on The Rich Eisen Show after Carolina beat Detroit on Sunday Night Football.

It was just a couple of years ago that Young was benched for Andy Dalton. Dave Canales had just gotten the Carolina job, a hire that surprised people because he had coordinated Baker Mayfield's offense in Tampa for "basically a hot minute." The prevailing theory was that ownership ordered the move, telling Canales the plan did not matter because it was not working. Rich admitted the show's own set was saying Young had to demand a trade. "It's just not going to work for him there," was the thinking. "Honestly, we were not alone in that regard."

Rich had a front row seat to being wrong. Young got back on the field after Dalton was in a car accident, and Rich was in Germany calling an International Series game for NFL Network. He and Kurt Warner met with Canales and Young beforehand, and were warned that neither would give the full story about the benching.

They asked anyway. The only thing Canales would offer was his answer to when he would know it was working: when players' "personalities from real life come out on the field because the jubilance that they have will be sparked by the results on the field."

That weekend, Rich saw it. Young was pointing for first downs and smiling against the Giants. The Giants were not. It turned out to be Daniel Jones' last start for Brian Daboll, a game the Giants lost in overtime.

What struck Rich most was what Young did not show. "He showed no bitterness," Rich said, even though he got the job back because Dalton was in a car crash, not because the team decided it had seen enough. Young did not want to talk about what he learned from the benching. He had turned the page. So Rich called it a sabbatical instead. "And he laughed. He goes, 'I like that.' And I'm like, 'Feel free to use it.'"

"And all he's done is just abuse most of his opponents since then," Rich said. "He is really good. And he has blossomed."

Rich did not pretend it has been perfect. Against Cleveland last week, not so great. The second half against the Bears, not so great. "It's not every time out like the so-called elite quarterbacks in this league do." He also credited the NBC crew for showing how Young sometimes plays on his tiptoes to see the field, noting Drew Brees did it, too.

Then came the throw. Young started 11 for his first 12, feeding Tetairoa McMillan, last year's Offensive Rookie of the Year, because he could see McMillan was red hot. With no Xavier Legette or Jalen Coker available, and Carolina up six with 3:18 to go on third and 14, Young rolled right, leapt, and threw on the run to a spot only McMillan could reach. McMillan grabbed it.

"One of the greatest connections we've seen this year," Rich said. Had it fallen incomplete, the Lions would have gotten the ball back right then, probably around their own 30, instead of a minute plus later at their own 13. "That won the game. That sealed the game."

The final line: 329 passing yards and two touchdowns for Young. McMillan finished with 14 catches for 192 yards, one shy of tying Christian McCaffrey's record for receptions in a game. Chuba Hubbard added 20 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. "The offense is clicking," Rich said.

It also shakes up the division. Ahead of the Saints and Falcons on Monday Night Football, Carolina is 2-2 and, in Rich's words, asking who wants to join them in the two and two realm. With the Bucs winless, the Panthers are "putting their hat in the ring for being the real deal NFC South team to beat."

"That was great," Rich said. So, apparently, is Bryce Young.