Bryce Young overcame two significant errors against the Miami Dolphins to steer his team to victory. To do the same against the Dallas Cowboys, the Carolina Panthers quarterback had almost no margin for error.
The Cowboys' offense is relentless. They led the NFL in total yards per game entering Week 6 at Bank of America Stadium. Matching fire with fire was going to be difficult, so limiting mistakes became the primary objective.
Whether Young could accomplish this feat was the big question. He's turned the football over way too much this season. The Cowboys are capable of punishing every mistake. Having two notorious ballhawks in the Dallas secondary — Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland — only made the signal-caller's task more difficult.
At the same time, the Cowboys' defense hasn't exactly been performing well this season. They have a soft underbelly and are still trying to recover from the shockwave of losing All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to a blockbuster trade. If Young was on point, this could be something to exploit.
As it turned out, Young spearheaded another dramatic win for the Panthers, moving them to 3-3 on the season when all hope seemed lost once upon a time.
With this in mind, here are five observations from Young's performance against the Cowboys.
Major observations from Bryce Young's performance against the Cowboys
Bryce Young's pre-snap command
Bryce Young might not be perfect all the time, but he's growing more comfortable. This is no more evident than when watching the quarterback pre-snap.
The command that he displays is night and day compared to early last season, or even over the opening couple of weeks in 2025. Dave Canales and Brad Idzik are getting the calls in quicker, which allows Young more time to decipher the defense and get everyone on the same page.
If a check is needed — either in the play or the blocking concept — he has the conviction to make changes. Young is also becoming adept at manipulating cadences to identify the source of pressure on obvious passing plays, further enhancing his cause.
This might sound like a minor detail, but some more experienced quarterbacks are still struggling to accomplish this feat. It's a testament to Young's processing, his ability to communicate effectively, and the player's trust in his instincts. And everything looked a lot more fluent.
Of course, you still have to make the play. But the Mater Dei High School graduate is putting himself and the team in a much better spot to do just that by making the right pre-snap decisions.