Bryce Young — Week 2: Five of Six Deep, No Interceptions
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Young completed 23 of 36 throws for 287 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, took two sacks, and scrambled once for 6 on third and four. He completed five of six throws that traveled 20 or more yards in the air for 161 yards, the longest a 55-yarder to Xavier Legette with 48 seconds left in the half, in a 34–3 win over the Falcons.
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13 to three, Panthers, 48 seconds left in the half, second and 16 at the Carolina 35 after a sack. Bryce Young threw deep middle to Xavier Legette, 45 yards in the air, 55 yards to the Atlanta 10. +4.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the largest figure for any pass or run in the game, and 4.5 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Three snaps later, third and seven at the seven with 24 seconds left, he threw short right to Darren Waller for the touchdown. Six plays, 73 yards, 38 seconds of clock, and it was 20 to three at halftime.
The line: 23 completions on 36 throws, 287 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, two sacks, +11.1 expected points on 38 pass plays. One scramble, six yards on third and four at the Atlanta 18, converted, the snap before the second Waller touchdown — 12 yards on first and 10 with nine 44 left in the third. The other touchdown was the first score of the game, three yards to Chuba Hubbard on fourth and three. Before halftime it was 15 of 25 for 204 yards on 27 pass plays; after it, eight of 11 for 83 on 11. On third down: 10 throws, six completions, four conversions. Two fourth-down throws, the touchdown and an incompletion to Tetairoa McMillan from the Atlanta two.
The deep ball is the story. Six throws traveled 20 or more yards in the air and five were caught, for a hundred 61 yards: 26, 27 28 to McMillan, 25 to Jalen Coker, 55 to Legette. The miss was a 31-yard ball for McMillan in the first quarter. McMillan had 10 targets, Coker nine, Legette four, Waller three — all three of Waller's caught, two for touchdowns — and four throws had no receiver named. Young's last throw was 13 yards to Mitchell Evans on third and 19 with 11 15 left in the fourth, and Kenny Pickett took the kneel-down.
Back in June the preview's read on Young was a season that finished nineteenth among quarterbacks across 16 games, with a floor built on durability — about 90 percent availability — rather than on efficiency or touchdown volume. Week 1 was 23 of 37 for 361 yards, three touchdown passes, a rushing score and one interception, a deep ball just before halftime, in a 59 to 37 loss. Sunday was the same 23 completions, three more touchdowns, and this time the deep ball just before halftime went for 55. Six touchdown passes against one interception in two games, after 23 touchdown passes in 16 games last season. That is efficiency the preview did not count on, and two games is a small sample of it. Carolina is at the Browns on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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