The Carolina Panthers didn’t appear to be the worst team in the NFL entering the 2024 season. If anything, we thought they deserved to have an edge over some of the bottom-ranked players in the AFC, and perhaps a few more in the NFC. Bryce Young quickly put an end to those hopes, raising the specter of a potential 0-17 season for Carolina.

Last week’s dramatic move to move Young to the quarterback position, replacing the veteran Andy Dalton, proved to be a masterstroke, however. It showed they were capable of much more than we saw in Weeks 1 and 2. Dalton had the most productive game of any quarterback so far this season, throwing for 313 yards and three touchdowns in a convincing win for the Panthers.

As expected, they’ve made a big jump in the latest power rankings, with Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News now ranking them 27th, up from 32nd last week.

“The Panthers made the QB switch to Andy Dalton and got immediate downfield passing results, unlocking their improved receiving corps. They also rolled to sudden rushing success. It’s a sign that the team was simply ready to respond to someone other than Bryce Young, unfortunately.”

Sad but true. It won’t help Young’s already diminished trade value either.

Anyway, the Panthers should just be happy that they got a top-tier quarterback for the first time in several seasons, even if it was against a rather inept Las Vegas Raiders team with their Kryptonite QB as the starter.

They passed the first test with Dalton leading the way, but let’s see what they do next week against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals before making any final statements about Dalton’s future with this team.

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