Carolina Panthers 30, Dallas Cowboys 27
Q. Bryce, you're backed up fourth and four on the final drive. What's the (inaudible) between you and Hunter and just take us through that moment.
BRYCE YOUNG: Just trust. Everyone in the huddle trusts each other. We all want those moments. We want the game in our hands. We want to execute, we want to leave no doubt as an offense. We didn't want to leave them in time and that speaks to the trust from Coach and the staff and the belief we have in each other.
But a great job from Hunter, great catch, great win on the route and everyone, all 11 executed in a big moment.
Q. Tetairoa ends up in the ends zone a couple of times today, but it was after that opening miscommunication, that drop that lead to the interception. Talk about rebounding from that but also what it meant to get him going and find him in the end zone a couple of times.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, obviously T-Mac has been huge for us for the entire year. Super glad he was able to get into the end zone. He's been huge. For me, stuff like that, it's part of the game. There's little things that happen and from both of us, it's just on to the next play.
I always believe in him. I always trust in him. He always has the confidence to go out and be himself like he did the rest of the game. That's adversity but we all lean on each other for that.
Q. Bryce, in college, high school, you always played for championships and always had a winning record. What's it mean to be 3-3 in the NFL? First time since 2021 this team has been .500.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it's great from where we are. It's a great win today. Obviously it's a long season. It's a week-to-week league. Right now we're excited, we're enjoying this win. Next week we're going to turn the page and for us. We have to figure out how to be consistent. We have to put them together. We have to continue to stack. Right now for 24 hours we're going to enjoy it but we're going to come back. We already talked about it in the locker room. Everyone is dedicated to moving forward, so that's all it is. We want to go 1-0 next week.
Q. Did you notice with Rico that maybe there was a little extra edge? (Inaudible) play a former team there is. But did you notice there was something a little extra special?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, of course. Rio is a competitor. That just speaks to the dog he is. It was personal. We knew that. We want to have his back. That's our brother. That's someone that if it's important to him, if it's personal to him, it's personal to us. So him playing the way he played, again, not a surprise. That's the guy he is. The O-line did an amazing job allowing that to happen, everyone in the perimeter blocking. I'm super happy for him.
Q. Dave keeps talking about what a violent runner he is. What do you see when you're standing back there giving him the ball?
BRYCE YOUNG: That's a great description. Violent. Someone who is super explosive. Really patient and then when he decides to put his foot in the ground and go, he has bad intentions. When you get to watch that -- I always say I get to watch the end zone view of film live, and it's so much fun being able to turnaround and watch to see all the great stuff that our backs do. So we're glad he's with us.
Q. Bryce, did you advice Trevor Etienne to go down on that last play?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, yeah, we want to leave no doubt. We want to make sure that we were in first down get down, we didn't want to give them time back. We talk about that here. We have situational presentations about that. We're prepared. The coaching staff does a great job of giving us situations like this to do it. So it was just communicating that and great job from Trevor. Young guy, could easily just go rogue and say this is my shot, but team-first guy so it was big.
Q. This is the second straight week that you had a big, big pass play on fourth down on the game-winning drive. I'm just curious, do you feel like your own confidence is growing as a player?
BRYCE YOUNG: My confidence comes from God. It comes from this team. So it's always there. I'm super grateful to be where I'm at. I'm grateful to be a part of the team. I'm grateful to be able to have the guys that I lean on every single day. So I have a ton of reasons to be confident in moments like that. We all trust each other. We all believe in each other, and we're going to have to continue to keep stacking.
Q. What does it say about this team, and specifically the offensive line that you can have so many injuries already this season and those guys step up in front in front.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it speaks to the resilience. That's not easy to do at all, especially against really good units, to come in and not miss a beat with injuries, with people substituting in and out, with all the stuff going on. It speaks to the culture of that room, the coaching staff, the guys, they hold themselves to a certain standard. We do as a unit, and I'm super grateful for them to be who they are, protecting me. I'm walking around here feeling great because of them and I'm for sure eternally grateful for that.
Q. How confident are you in that the offense will continue to thrive when Chuba comes back? Is there enough ball to go around is what I'm trying to say.
BRYCE YOUNG: For sure. I'm super confident. The great thing is those are two guys who want to win. Chuba is a leader on this team. He's huge for us, always will be. Same with Rico. He does a great job of doing all the things you've seen. At the end of the day, we want to win, we want to do whatever it takes to win. They're close, always supporting each over. They're always having each other's back. Whatever it takes for us to win, I know we'll all do, all 11 in the unit and however many people on the roster, on the team.
Q. So you advised Trevor to go down there, but did you advise the makeshift hook-and-ladder at the end of the first half there?
BRYCE YOUNG: I -- I'll plead the fifth on that one. (Laughter) But it's football. Things happen. We make play. Regardless of what happened, I'm super proud of this team.
Q. Bryce, you have a pretty good top-level view of the offensive line in games too. What is it like to watch (inaudible).
BRYCE YOUNG: It's crazy. We watch it. You get to see a lot and it's wild. We pause the film a ton and when we're in the quarterback room, we're talking through stuff. Run game, we talk through scheme and we talk about carrying out our faiths and little things we have ideas off of it but every once in a while we'll stop and pause like hey, let's look at this person and all the time, it's like let's look at D-Lew pull for this in right here. We all just sit there like wow. Imagine having to deal with that as an end. But D-Lew is an amazing player, person and player, huge for the team so it's a privilege.
Q. You guys work hard during the week and sometimes when you lose and you don't see what fruits of that labor -- (inaudible) and then translate into wins. What does it mean for this team?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it's a blessing for sure. Regardless of anything, I've always been so proud of this team, how we worked, how we carried ourselves through the week. I think now it's just more encouragement. We have to make sure that we continue to keep building, continue to keep pushing ourselves during the week. We know that it works. We know what the coaches are having us do and the process is what we need to be doing and it's just continuing to trust each other, push each other and we're excited for the work.
Q. How much do you attribute to what Dowdle has been able to do with opening up the play action game? It seems like it's always had a positive effect on what you're able to do.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it's been huge. Just us as an offense, everyone as a unit with the run game. And like you said, it helps me, helps the play caller when you can open up play pass stuff. So the credit goes to everyone and as a unit, we're excited to keep going.
Q. It also seems like you keep losing an offensive lineman or two each week and yet your numbers keep going. What does it say about the guys up front that are stepping in and playing?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, just speaks to the resilience of the room. Ton of competitors. There's a standard they hold themselves to. So I'm grateful for that unit.
Q. I apologize if you have been asked this but T-Mac got not only one but two touchdowns today. I know you said you have kind of been thinking about it. Switch up the scenery and not think about it and got two. Can you take us through his first touchdown play and what does it mean for him to finally find the box today?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, I mean obvious he's been huge for us. He's a great player, continuing to just get better and better and grow and I'm super grateful that it was able to pay off for him getting in the end zone. He deserves it. He's been working hard. He's been doing amazing all season. I'm excited to continue to watch him grow and just an amazing job on a double move, great route for the first touchdown. We had put the play in that he scored on for the second touchdown and when he designed it, he's kind of last in progression and he came in and he was like, we ran it and he was like I love this play. He's like this is great. This is a great design and if you get back to me, I'm going to go in.
We had talked about it actually yesterday and we were just like it's great to see the buy-in of someone who is last in progression and still loving the play, still can't wait for it to get called and him taking ownership. And he was like, man, if you get back to me, it's going in. It ended up and he called his shot. It speaks to the competitor he is. He did a great job on both of those. He's been doing a great job all year so I'm excited for the growth to continue.
Q. Did you know that T-Mac was there before Kneeland got to you when you stepped forward?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, you know the concept. You know where people are going to be so trusted him to win on that route, get back to him quick and he did an amazing job.
Q. Did you just put that in this week, that second touchdown pass, that second TD by T-Mac?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, something new that he was excited about and he did an amazing job. Appreciate you guys.
DraftScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports