Bryce Young's ankle
The Carolina Panthers gave quarterback Bryce Young a whole week of practice, and they were suitably impressed with how his high ankle sprain responded. However, watching how the signal-caller fared under pressure would be a completely different measuring stick for his rehabilitation.
While Young struggled to get anything going in the passing game, that wasn't because of his ankle. If the player was feeling any lingering effects from the issue sustained against the New York Jets, he didn't show it.
There was trust to step up in the pocket without much need to backlift on his throws. And when there was a need to escape from the pocket, the elusiveness and short-area quickness were as if no health problem had occurred.
Things didn't quite click for Young under challenging conditions. But seeing him move around with almost no restrictions was arguably the most pleasing aspect of his performance.
High ankle sprains can be tricky. If a player comes back when it's not fully healed, things tend to flare up again. That didn't look to be the case with Young, so the extended rest he received in Week 8 was the correct call to make from head coach Dave Canales and his staff.
It wasn't pretty, but Bryce Young did just enough
The Panthers were 13.5-point underdogs heading into the game, but a rousing effort saw quarterback Bryce Young have the chance to lead another game-winning drive. And not for the first time, he delivered.
Young didn't need to do too much. The Panthers relied heavily on Rico Dowdle again. Still, his exceptional improvisation under pressure before delivering a strike to wide receiver Jalen Coker did just enough to keep the drive alive.
A few short plays later, undrafted rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald had the chance to walk off a memorable win for the Panthers. He produced the goods with his customary composure to seal the most impressive result of the Dave Canales era.
It wasn't pretty from Young overall; far from it, actually. Even so, the signal-caller's poise in the most significant moments once again came to the fore. And when it's all said and done, this will go down as another contest where he took his team downfield to deliver the goods.
This was an incredible turning point for the Panthers. Nobody gave them a chance, and they rose in the face of adversity to put the entire NFL on notice.
Young played his part. It wasn't as impressive as some of his performances, but the result was all that mattered.