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david newton
Charlotte, NC — troy aikman Started his second season for dallas cowboys The top pick of the 1989 draft with a 3-7 record after an 0-11 rookie year. It looked like the losses would continue the following week, when the former UCLA star extended his streak of interceptions to 13 consecutive games in the third game. Los Angeles RamsHe was 0 of 5 late in the first quarter.
Then everything started clicking.
Aikman completed 17 of his final 27 attempts for 303 yards and three touchdowns in the come-from-behind 24–21 victory. The Cowboys won four in a row, and the rest turned into a Hall of Fame career with three Super Bowl wins and six Pro Bowl selections, that’s history.
The same can be said about a day bryce young and the 2-3 Panthers, who will enter Sunday’s game against the 2-2-1 Cowboys (1 p.m. ET, Fox) after a seemingly impossible 27–24 victory against miami dolphins Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
Young, the top pick of the 2023 draft, had an interception and a loss in the first half. The Panthers fell to 17–0 and appeared headed for a 1–4 record.
Young, who came into the game with a 7–25 record, 1–17 when he had at least one turnover, appeared headed for possible benching.
Then things started clicking.
Young completed 17 of his last 26 attempts for 165 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 2:03 remaining.
“Big win for the team and Bryce,” East New York Giants quarterback eli manning Said.
Manning understands. they had one of those moments denver broncos In its second season. The Giants trailed 23–10 with 13:18 remaining, but scored two touchdowns in the final nine minutes, including a game-winning 2-yard pass from Manning. Amani Tomar With five seconds left.
“It made a big impact on me,” Manning said.
On Sunday, Young was willing to speculate on what the return means for him. But he never trailed from 17-0. He’s wondering if coach Dave Canales will pull him in favor of a veteran andy dalton Like last year after starting the season 0-2.
He seemed to wonder whether he could stay in the game after a two-turnover start for the third time in five games, smiling afterward as he responded in the most predictable way.
“I was just focused on the next game,” Young said. “We all have full confidence in the world.” We trust each other. There was no blow from either side of the ball. It was special to be a part of that.”
When Young was asked if the comeback had happened, he took the same approach, saying only the fourth time in 117 games the Panthers overcame a 17-point deficit to win and only the second time in 20 games Young had won after committing at least one turnover, it was a defining moment.
“There was never a lack of confidence,” Young said. “We all know what we have. We all know what it takes to execute. that would be great [for] 24 hours, and then the challenge will be to execute and do everything we can to have a good week next week and put ourselves in a good position for Sunday.”
Canales insisted he was not thinking about a change despite Young’s poor start. His focus was similar to Young’s.
“Just keep playing football,” he said. “Tell him to execute and take advantage of our opportunities.” Luckily for us, we were able to stay balanced with our offense and get the run game going, which gave us an opportunity to run a different type of offense and settle back down.
“Then he made his throws when we needed to.”
Young made possibly his best throw of the season in the second quarter when he connected with the receiver Xavier Leggett For a 7-yard touchdown. Before the second-year receiver dodged a defender, he threw a dart to the back corner of the end zone.
Even though Leggett struggled in the first two games and missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, he did not hesitate.
Leggett called the touchdown a “trust throw.”
“He took me out, it showed me he had confidence in me,” he said.
Young’s teammates never lost faith in their quarterback, just as teammates never lost faith in Aikman and Manning when they were struggling.
“Sure no harm done to Bryce,” said the running back. Rico DowdleWhose 206 yards rushing ranked second on the team’s single-game list. “He’s always been a fighter… He stuck to it, and we all stuck to it as a team.”
Pro Bowl defensive lineman derrick brown Saw it after the interception when Young came right up to him on the sideline and said, “Go get it back for me and we’ll go.”
“It’s needed,” Canales said. “It doesn’t matter how you got into this situation. Can you go out and execute one more time? Can you keep your focus on yourself while also being able to connect to what we believe can be accomplished?
“I like hearing that.”
Young and everyone around him also know that what happened on Sunday won’t mean anything unless they put in another good performance against the Cowboys.
Dallas coach Brian Schottenheimer is preparing to see Young at his best.
“if you do [what he did Sunday]You learn from that,” he said. “You get confidence.”
carolina receiver jalen cokerJoe, who has a chance to return from injured reserve this week, agreed. Although he never lost faith in Young, seeing him bounce back gave him confidence that he could do it again.
Teammates in general now know that even if things don’t go perfectly, Young can still pull out wins, something he had not done to that level before, even if he has shown resiliency.
“He’s been really consistent this year when things haven’t gone right,” Canales said of Young’s reasons for going 17-0.
“He has a way of sitting down, collecting his thoughts, and then coming back with great energy. That’s where he’s locked in, and that’s where I want him to stay.”
So was Sunday a defining moment? Brown called it the best for everyone.
“Ask me in January,” he said with a big smile.
