‘They’ve Got Good Thing Going’: Seahawks Gearing Up For Much Improved Panthers’ Offense
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Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) throws during the first half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - When diving into film to scout an upcoming opponent, there isn’t a clear cut formula for Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, as the timetable for getting a true feel of their strengths varies depending on the team week-to-week.
But leading up to a key Week 17 road contest against the Panthers in Charlotte, after admittedly not watching the player much prior, it didn’t take Macdonald long to come away with admiration for third-year quarterback Bryce Young, who has been playing some of his best football as Carolina has climbed into first place in the NFC South. The former No. 1 pick has come a long way since being benched early in the 2024 season and even since the early stages of this campaign, presenting quite the road challenge for Seattle’s top-five ranked scoring defense with much at stake for both teams.
“I think Bryce is playing at a really high level,” Macdonald said on Wednesday prior to practice. “He's been incredibly accurate. He gets through his reads really quickly, which is a pain in the neck. He’s been making big time plays in high leverage situations. Teams have had him dead to rights and on several occasions, he’s been able to escape. There are also a lot of plays where he's in time and in rhythm and he's throwing some daggers out there. He’s been impressive. I haven’t watched that much prior to this game, but I've been impressed.”
A little over a year ago, a slumping Young lost his job to veteran journeyman Andy Dalton, and it appeared coach Dave Canales may have already reached the point where he was ready to pull the plug on the former Heisman Trophy winner. But at the time, the coaching staff viewed the move as a chance for the youngster to reset on the sidelines, and only a few weeks later, he was back in the starting lineup and the move started to pay dividends immediately with much improved play.
Starting each of Carolina’s final 10 games, Young threw 15 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions, building positive momentum that has carried over to 2025. He’s already set a career-high with 21 touchdowns compared to just nine interceptions in 15 starts, and backup up Macdonald’s comments on his success in “high leverage” situations, he’s been incredibly reliable in clutch moments, manufacturing a league-best six game-winning drives for the Panthers.
Young’s continued ascent has been buoyed by Carolina’s youth movement bearing fruit on the offensive side of the football. 2022 first round pick Ikem Ekwonu has come into his own in his fourth season protecting the quarterback’s blindside, while rookie receiver Tetairoa McMillan has emerged as an immediate star in Canales’ offense, hauling in 65 receptions for 924 yards and seven touchdowns thus far. Meanwhile, Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker, two youngsters in their second NFL seasons, have provided strong complementary weapons on the outside.
Leading the charge for the Panthers, aside from ranking first among all 2025 draftees in each of the three main receiving categories, McMillan has been one of the NFL’s most prolific deep ball threats snagging passes from Young, currently ranking in the top 25 in receptions (eight), receiving yards (218), and touchdowns (four) on passes traveling 20-plus yards.
“Another really good player,” Macdonald said of McMillan. “Could win at all three levels. For a bigger guy, being able to get in and out of his breaks and have the body control. You can tell they're building a good chemistry with the quarterback. They've got a good thing going. He's making some really good catches.”
In the past, the 5-11 Young has been vulnerable to interior pressure, including taking a league-worst 62 sacks while being sacked on north of 10% of his drop backs as a rookie two seasons ago. This would seem to bode well for the Seahawks on Sunday with Pro Bowl defensive tackle Leonard Williams and ascending star Byron Murphy II wreaking havoc all season long as disruptive pass rushers. Both players rank in the top 10 among defensive tackles in sacks and pressures, making life rough on quarterbacks on a weekly basis.
But it can be argued the former Crimson Tide star has made his greatest strides with pocket presence, as Young has only been sacked 25 times this season. The Panthers have allowed him to be pressured on 37.9% of his drop backs, a respectable 18th in the NFL, so improved pass protection has been part of the equation limiting opportunities for defenders to get to him.
At the same time, however, Young has posted the lowest time to throw average of his career (2.83 seconds), roughly a 0.1 seconds per throw jump from his first two seasons, doing a better job of unloading the football in a timely manner to help his blockers up front. As Macdonald indicated, he also has done a fine job of making oncoming rushers miss and extending pressured plays, currently ranking seventh out of 25 qualified quarterbacks with 13.9% of pressures resulting in sacks.
Ironically, the Panthers have won five of the six games where Young has faced the highest pressured drop back totals, a testament to his ability to work out of duress and extend plays to find open receivers. Keeping that in mind, the Seahawks will have to generate finished rushes with quarterback hits and sacks to truly make an impact on Sunday, as simply getting the quarterback to move his launching point won’t be an effective blueprint to defend him. If anything, he’s been at his most dangerous in such situations, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Williams and others leading up to Sunday.
“The quarterback's good, he’s showed up big time in prime situations in the fourth quarter, bringing them back to win games,” Williams said. “I feel every week that you can never sleep on a team and they haven't started off the best, but I give credit to this team. It’s a pretty good team.”
Limiting Carolina’s balance on offense will also be key, as Canales has been able to lean on a two-headed backfield attack featuring Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard to take some of the heat off of Young as the season has progressed. More of a bruising presence between the tackles, Dowdle ranks 13th in the NFL in yards after contact (700) and yards per carry after contact (3.23), once again putting pressure on Seattle’s defense to finish tackles and swarm to the ball carrier to get him down.
Between Dowdle and Hubbard, the two backs have combined for nearly 1,500 rushing yards and been equally productive in the passing game, each contributing at least 25 receptions and 210 receiving yards. More willing to take check downs than he was earlier in his career, Young won’t have any reservations about dumping it off to either back and letting them go to work in space.
As Williams hinted, the stats may suggest that the Panthers aren’t a team to be concerned about, as they still rank 27th in the NFL in scoring offense due to a slow start on that side of the ball. But that number doesn’t paint an accurate picture of how Young, McMillan, and the rest of the unit has played as of late, scoring at least 30 points in two of the past four games, including to upset the Rams in Week 13.
With the quarterback playing with great confidence and his supporting cast growing rapidly around him, all hands will have to be on deck for a playoff atmosphere for Seattle to grab a big road win in Charlotte and stay atop the NFC West and NFC standings.
