Bryce Young is a below average NFL quarterback, and the Carolina Panthers' 20-9 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football was no different. The former No. 1 overall pick threw two more interceptions and was held below 200 passing yards for the 10th time this season in Week 12, as his struggles persist against everyone except the Atlanta Falcons.
Despite being 8-26 in his career against the other 30 teams, it's a different story when the 24-year-old faces the Dirty Birds. Young is 4-1 against the Falcons in his career with a 5:1 TD: INT ratio that saw him torch a strong secondary for 448 passing yards and three touchdowns back in Week 11.
The Panthers have also swept the Falcons this season, as two of their three 30-point games in 2025 came against their NFC South rivals. And for a Jeff Ulbrich defense that has predominantly rolled through opposing offenses this season, it's become clear that Atlanta has a new Achilles heel.
Of all players, Bryce Young is the one emerging as the Falcons' kryptonite
Through 12 weeks, the Falcons' defense ranks eighth in the NFL in passing defense, which is impressive in itself. However, Young and Patriots' star quarterback Drake Maye the only signal-caller to record more than 210 passing yards against one of the league's best-performing secondaries.
Moreover, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner managed to break Cam Newton's single-game passing yards record in Week 11, yet the Carolina offense fell flat just eight days later in primetime. Newton was the last QB to take Carolina to the Super Bowl during his 2015 MVP season, yet the Panthers have yet to even sniff the playoffs with Young starting.
The ex-Alabama star is averaging nearly 227 passing yards per game in five career meetings against the Falcons compared to a measly 183.3 passing yards per game against the rest of the NFL. It would be one thing if this success was consistently being replicated, but it's making for a strange trend.
Not only did Young go wild in the Panthers' overtime victory in Week 11, it saw Panthers' first-round rookie Tetairoa McMillan turn in the best game of his young career. The star wideout out of Arizona took advantage of a shorthanded secondary to tally eight receptions for 130 yards and two scores.
Making matters even worse is the fact that the third-year quarterback's nine interceptions are the seventh-worst among qualified starters. He's thrown an interception in three of the last four games, yet one of the league's best secondaries failed to force a Young turnover in either of their matchups.
As much as Ulbrich has managed to revolutionize this Atlanta defense in 2025, a man who has performed like one of the worst starters in football still has a leg up on the Falcons.