Frank Reich not worried about Bryce Young after tough opening loss

As most rookie quarterbacks do, Bryce Young had a rough debut in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Even so, Frank Reich isn’t at all concerned about this year’s No. 1 pick.

Reich shared those sentiments during his postgame press conference after Carolina lost 24-10 in Atlanta. To him, Young’s demeanor and approach have him completely confident in his first-year QB1 to take this in stride and improve by the next time he takes the field.

“Bryce is the last person I’m worried about,” Reich said. “He’s got the maturity of someone way beyond his years.”

Young finished his first pro appearance with 20-38 (52.6%) passing for 146 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. The Falcons were also able to get to him for a pair of sacks and force a fumble from him too, one that Carolina did end up recovering, during their 14-point win.

Young will very likely only get better from this performance as his rookie year and career continues. As far as next week, though, Reich wants the rest of the Panthers to follow their quarterback’s lead and take this loss in a way that will make them want to be better next week in their home opener against the Saints.

“He’s a team-first person. He’ll be hard on himself and each of us should be,” said Reich. “That’s kind of the message that we talked about in there. Every one of us, players and coaches, should be hard on himself in the next 24 hours. It should not taste good and we need to eat every bit of it. Otherwise, you don’t learn and get better from it.”

Bryce Young throws first touchdown of NFL career

Bryce Young arrived earlier today. The Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback and first overall pick threw his first career touchdown in Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Tight end Hayden Hurst hauled in a four-yard pass from Young to tie things up at seven apiece.