By Joe Person, Zack Rosenblatt and Jenna West
The winless New York Jets’ woes went from bad to worse as they benched quarterback Justin Fields during Sunday’s 13-6 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
New York turned to backup Tyrod Taylor in the second half after Fields went 6-for-12 for 46 yards and no touchdowns through two quarters. The Jets trailed 10-3 at halftime.
Fields briefly exited the game in the second quarter as he was evaluated for a concussion after taking a hard hit from Nick Scott. Fields was cleared and returned on the Jets’ next drive.
Both offenses struggled throughout the day, with the lone touchdown coming late in the second quarter when Carolina quarterback Bryce Young found receiver Xavier Legette in the end zone with a 3-yard pass.
However, the Panthers lost Young in the third quarter when he hurt his right ankle while trying to avoid a sack, and he did not return to the game. Backup Andy Dalton finished the game for Carolina.
Panthers coach Dave Canales said Young wasn’t able to put weight on his ankle, and Canales had no specifics on the severity of the quarterback’s injury. X-rays on Young’s ankle came back negative, according to a league source.
Running back Rico Dowdle said he talked to Young, who said he would be fine.
Young went 15 of 25 with 138 yards and one touchdown as the Panthers improved to 4-3.
With Sunday’s loss, the Jets fall to 0-7. Taylor finished with 10 completions on 22 attempts with 126 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
Panthers’ defense steps up when needed
With Young out of the game, the Panthers’ defense took matters into its own hands, especially Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn, who had the first two-interception game of his career. Both of Horn’s interceptions came after Young exited and journeyman Taylor replaced Fields in the second half.
Horn’s first pick was a spectacular, one-handed snag in the end zone. The Panthers’ pass rush was relentless, racking up six sacks — their highest total since a six-sack game against the Jets (and rookie QB Zach Wilson) in the 2021 season opener. Carolina (4-3) is above .500 for the first time this late in a season since 2019. — Joe Person, Panthers beat writer
Is Bryce Young durable?
Questions about Young’s durability followed him into the NFL, not because he had a lengthy injury history at Alabama, but solely because of his size. But Young, despite his awkward attempts at sliding, has managed to avoid serious injury since the Panthers took him No. 1 in the 2023 draft.
Young twisted his right ankle while unsuccessfully trying to avoid the Jets’ pass rush on Jowon Briggs’ sack late in the third quarter. Before Sunday, Young’s only missed time was a one-game absence with an ankle injury in Week 3 at Seattle in his rookie year. — Person
Jets’ offense improves with Tyrod Taylor
The Jets benched Fields after halftime, and the offense at least started to show some movement with Taylor, who isn’t afraid to take deep shots down the field. Unfortunately, he just missed a couple of them, including back-to-back throws on one drive. If he hadn’t underthrown his receiver, the Jets would’ve had a big gain or touchdown. Instead, the second one was picked off by Horn in the end zone.
Still, it’s hard to deny how much better the passing offense looked with Taylor running it, even if that’s a low bar. Taylor also nearly hit rookie receiver Arian Smith for a long touchdown, but Smith dropped it in one-on-one coverage. The risk of playing Taylor, of course, is that his willingness to air it out doesn’t always pan out. He threw a bad interception late in the fourth quarter when the Jets trailed by only seven, making the mistake of trying to attack Horn one-on-one with Josh Reynolds. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets beat writer
Defense holds Panthers’ passing attack
On the positive side, for the second straight week, the Jets defense at least came to play. It allowed only one touchdown, which came, of course, as the result of some end-of-half breakdowns, and shut down the Panthers’ passing attack. The defense had multiple sacks (two) for the first time since Week 1 and held the Panthers to 4 of 16 conversions on third down.
Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks didn’t quite get his revenge on a Panthers team that let him go after a successful run as interim head coach in 2022, and he at least gave himself some breathing room as the defensive play caller after how bad the defense was through the first five weeks of the season.
The defense, multiple times, gave New York’s offense the ball back in the fourth quarter with a chance to drive up the field and tie it, but the Jets weren’t able to. — Rosenblatt