The Dallas Cowboys smothered rookie quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers in a 33-10 NFL victory on Sunday.
The No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft had his smallest passing output with 123 yards and got sacked a season-high seven times.
“Really good defense. Really good defensive front,” Young said. “Obviously, it’s tough. But that’s no excuse. There’s things I definitely can do better, things that as an offense. Again, that’s a really good defense, but we’re striving, pushing to be – we want to be a great offense. We have a ways to go, we have to keep building, we have to earn that right. But it’s the NFL. We’re competitors. There’s no excuse. First and foremost, I have to be better regardless of what’s going on around me.”
The former Alabama All-American completed 16-of-29 passes with one touchdown and one interception. He lost a fumble on a sack.
The Cowboys scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown on cornerback DaRon Bland’s 30-yard interception return. Bland tied the NFL single-season record with his fourth pick-six of the 2023 season.
“We knew they were loaded up front. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We thought the formula was run the football – run the football, sustain drives, shortened the game like that, be able to throw some play-action, take a few shots here and there. But we just weren’t able to when we stalled running it on a few key third downs, and then in the red zone, we weren’t able to make the plays in the pass game that we needed.”
Young will be at quarterback when the Panthers play the Tennessee Titans at noon CST Sunday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
