Panthers-27, Dolphins-24
Q. Dave said that you have great belief in the rookies on the final drive and you go to Evans and you go to Jimmy obviously, and Etienne had the run. Tell us about where that belief comes from.
BRYCE YOUNG: From the work they put in. From OTAs to training camp until now, you just see the work that they put in. You see the mindset that they have. Those are guys that they want to win. They do all the little things right. At the quarterback position when you see that, it instills a ton of belief.
Those guys stepping up in big situations, not a surprise to me at all. Those are the type of guys they are.
Q. This game started the way the first two weeks went. You guys were able to overcome it. How did the experience of those first two weeks impact you guys?
BRYCE YOUNG: We're just always going to keep fighting, always going to believe, always going to focus on the next play.
Obviously didn't start the way we want to. There's stuff for me to clean up, but there was no hesitation, nothing looking now. We knew that whatever it is, you know, flush it, go to the next play. The belief was always there, and I'm so proud to be a part of a team like that.
Q. The turnovers and 17-0, were you looking over your shoulder wondering if Coach was going to make a change? What did it mean to bounce back?
BRYCE YOUNG: I was just focused on the next play. Again, we all have all the belief in the world. We believe in each other. Yeah, we're super excited to be out there and play.
Again, there was no flinch from both sides of the ball, which again, being a part of that is special. So I'm excited for this group.
Q. Fourth down plays and scrambled and threw the pass to T-Mac, down 17-0. How did that spark? Then on J-Horn's first catch on fourth down in the fourth quarter.
BRYCE YOUNG: First one just a got-to-have-it type of play in the situation that it was. You don't want to go down with that. You kind of know the feel of the game. It was a great job of T-Mac extending with me, find open space. That was a great catch as well.
Then the second one, just like we were talking about earlier, I have trust in all of our guys. We got man-to-man look on a good route, and Jimmy did an amazing job. Again, I had all the confidence in the world in him. Just letting him go out there, be him, and make a big-time play.
Q. What did you make of, it's third down, if you punt it, they burn their last time-out. Dave called for a pass play, and you get the PI and win the game. What did you think when that call came in?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, obviously when your play caller has confidence in you like that, that means a lot, but that's what I want as a quarterback, what we want. Horn did a great job of when he got open, got a PI. Did an amazing job.
You just got to execute. Those are the moments you live for, knowing the stakes. Yeah, him having confidence in me, that means the world.
Q. What did you learn about Rico?
BRYCE YOUNG: Nothing new. Explosive, dynamic, and every day back can do everything in the run game, the pass game, the screen game. Again, nothing surprising. He just did a great job.
The O-line did an amazing job from start to finish, run and pass game. This was huge for us as an identity, but there's nothing surprising about what he did. That's the type of player he is.
Q. Did you see something different in the week leading up to today about X.L. that made him excel today?
BRYCE YOUNG: No. Again, he works hard. He has his head down. He is always grinding, always pushing forward regardless of what's out there. What I see is him every single day. I see how he approaches things. I see how he is in meetings. I see how he is in practice. So there wasn't anything different, anything done. That's just him being him.
Q. Describe what you saw on that -- you gave him a chance in one-on-one coverage on that touchdown. Dave Canales said he got pride after it happened. It was very significant.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, just a one-on-one up on a go ball. I trust him. I believe in him. When you get those opportunities, they don't come up all the time, so I was super excited to see that shot. I just want to give him a chance. He did a great job adjusting to it.
Q. To make a comeback for a win like this one, how defining do you think that was to you and the team?
BRYCE YOUNG: It's great for these 24 hours. It's amazing. Then when we come back tomorrow, it will be on to the next week.
There's never been a lack of belief. We all know what we have. We all know what it takes to execute. It will be great, again, 24 hours, and then next week will be the challenge to execute and do everything we can to have a good week to put ourselves in a good spot for Sunday.
Q. How do you enjoy wins?
BRYCE YOUNG: Nothing crazy. Just enjoy time with family, relax, get off my feet. Yeah, kind of decompress and, yeah, back at it tomorrow.
Q. Any special pride in beating Tua?
BRYCE YOUNG: It's the NFL. You can't pick and choose one win being more important than the other. They're all hard-fought.
I have a ton of respect for him. He played amazing, made a lot of great throws as he always does. Yeah, it's the league. You take pride in every single challenge.
Q. Canales said a focus of this week was not letting the bad things spiral to where they're not insurmountable. How did that focus coming into this week help y'all in this game today?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, I think it was a great message that carried over. Again, obviously not the start that we want, but for us to be able to refocus, like Coach talks about that all the time, being able to refocus from the good, from the bad, whatever it may be.
You saw that in all phases. You saw everyone, regardless what was going on with the scoreboard was, just to be able to refocus on the next play, and that's something that's going to be important for us moving forward.
Q. (Off microphone).
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, it's huge. When you are able to rush for that amount, be that productive in the run game, again, that's Rico, that's the O-line, that's the coaches scheming stuff up. That makes your job way easier as a quarterback. They have to respect that stuff, so you know, it's something we know we're capable of. It's on us to continue to excel there, continue to be consistent, but I mean, I'm super grateful to be with this group.
Q. What do you guys see in Rico and the Miami defense that made you confident you could do that?
BRYCE YOUNG: I was just out there executing Coach's play calls, and Coach did a great job of balancing the run the pass, being unpredictable, doing a great job of putting us in great situations. So I was just out there working to execute that.
Q. Rico said he asked Brad to call that play. That was the big run that started the second half. Had you been a part of those conversations? Did you know that was coming before it was called?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, and that's something that Coach does a great job of empowering us with. Brad, Coach Canales, whoever it might be, wanting us to be vocal, wanting us to pound on the desk for a play. Rico did that, he called his shot.
We all have that belief. We all have that drive for something. You know, it's a lot better chance of making it work, so that speaks to the competitor he is.
Q. Mitchell Evans, what does it mean to have him obviously as a rookie contributing too?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it's huge. He's a great player as a rookie, but you wouldn't know by how he prepares, by the feel he plays with, by a lot of little things. So, yeah, he's a great addition to the offense. He's great for us as a unit, and yeah, we're really excited he's out there.
Q. Jimmy said he had a pretty good idea you were coming to him on that first down. Was he the first look on that play?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, yeah, again, I trust everyone based on what we were getting on coverage. He had the opportunity, and again, I trust him. It's one-on-one to win the game, man coverage, and I had all the confidence in the world to do exactly what he did.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports