Resurrection day for the Carolina Panthers sees Bryce Young and the Carolina Defense shine bright

Keep Pounding mantra on Wall of Bank of America Stadium

Resurrection was the word of the day for the Carolina Panthers when they hosted the LA Rams at Bank of America stadium on Sunday. That revival came in the form of a Panthers defensive effort as well as a Chuba Hubbard resurfacing.

Before the end of the first quarter, the Panthers defense had already picked off Matthew Stafford two times. Those picks were a rare miscue for Stafford this season. The most impactful was the pick-six by Mike Jackson to put Carolina in the driver’s seat. It was Jackson's first career pick-six.

But it was all Hubbard with regard to the rushing attack in the first half. Hubbard rushed for 37 yards on 7 carries and padded the stat sheet with a, team leading, 42 receiving yards including a 35-yard touchdown reception through the first two periods of play.

In the second quarter, the Panthers converted their 19^th fourth down conversion to keep their drive going, and then capped the drive with a 33-yard Ryan Fitzgerald field goal during the 12-play 60-yard drive to put Carolina up 17-14.

Hubbard even showed up big to pick up a critical conversion late in the third quarter to extend the Panthers’ drive that led to a  

The lead was short lived as the Rams followed with a touchdown drive to head into the half with a 21-17 lead. But the Panthers had plenty left in the tank for the second half. "Our best football is out there and our job is to find it. I always feel comfortable with the game in Bryce Young's hands," head coach Dave Canales said during a post game press conference.

"The thing I appreciate most about putting the ball in Bryce's hands is that he stays the same."

Another revival of sorts was they re-emergence of Bryce Young’s impact on the offense. The biggest question of the day was whether he would be on or off of his top-level game management mode after a lackluster performance on the previous Monday night loss to the 49ers.

And in the spirit of going for it, Bryce Young connected with Jalen Coker for the 33-yard touchdown to put the Panthers back on top 24-21 mid way through the third quarter. It gave Young his second touchdown of the afternoon. It was also the first time the Panthers had been able to complete two or more 30+ yard passes since 2016.

The day only got better with a fourth down play when Young connected with Tetairoa McMillan for the receiver’s first catch of the day. The play just happened to be a 43-yard touchdown reception for the rookie receiver.

Young finished the game 15/20 for 206 yards passing and three touchdowns. "I just trust my guys," Young said during a post game press conference.

"We have a bunch of guys that just focus on the work."

And just as it began with a defensive rebound, the game would end in similar fashion. Derrick Brown led the way with a strip sack to set up the DJ Wonnum recovery to give the Panthers 2:25 left to engineer an upset of the NFC West leader.

And the first down connection to Coker would seal the deal for the Panthers to improve to 7-6 on the year after the 31-28 win.