The New Orleans Saints defense likely will be seeing a different iteration of Carolina quarterback Bryce Young at noon Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
It's been a long eight weeks since the Saints blitzed Carolina 47-10 in the season opener at the Caesars Superdome, both teams enter Sunday on losing streaks: The Saints (2-6) have dropped six straight and the Panthers (1-7) have dropped five.
As for Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, he was benched for ineffectiveness but returned to the starting lineup partly due to injury and produced one of the top four statistical games of his 21-game career in a 28-14 loss to Denver last week.
Young's best game of this season included completing 24 of 37 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions, in his return after a five-game shelving. He only has had two games with more completions, three with more yards and one with more touchdown passes.
The Saints will counter with a defense that allows a league-leading 392.8 yards per game and will be missing cornerbacks Paulson Adebo (out for the season), Marshon Lattimore and Kool-Aid McKinstry.
"Offensively, maybe they tried to do more things to help him, not to put him in tough situations," defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. "Make it a little bit easier for him to operate. Obviously, they have a good running game. They're big up front, a good offensive line so trying to establish the run just makes their offense easier for him to operate."
"I thought he played better in this game against Denver," Saints Coach Dennis Allen said. "They did some things to try to get the ball out of his hands quickly. I thought he operated in that situation pretty well.
"I thought he did a good job in the two-minute drive at the end of the game to go down and get some points. This is a good quarterback. We're going to have to play well to try to win the game. They drafted him No. 1 overall for a reason."
That aside, Young has experienced his share of troubles in the NFL.
Carolina is 2-17 when he starts and he has completed 60 percent of his passes, with 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. New Orleans is 3-0 against the Panthers with Young starting and in the season opener, Young completed 13 of 30 for 161 yards and no touchdowns, with two interceptions. He was sacked four times but accounted for Carolina's only touchdown with a 3-yard run.
But Allen said there's no reason to ruminate on that game or result.
"It doesn't matter at all," he said. "That game was eight weeks ago. It matters what we do this week in practice, and it matters what we do Sunday in the game."
