Bryce Young oversees opening-drive TD in brief preseason debut, and Panthers beat Bills 31-26

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bryce Young made Panthers coach Dave Canales’ decision easy in determining how long he was going to keep the Panthers' starting offense on the field in their preseason finale at Buffalo on Saturday.

All it took to reassure the coach his quarterback was ready, was watching Young cap a 12-play, 85-yard opening drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Matthews in Carolina’s 31-26 win.

“Oh, it was great, right? Couldn’t have dreamt it better,” Canales said, before referencing other key offensive players such as receivers Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen. “Bryce looked sharp. Diontae and Adam looked great. I don’t want to go through the whole list. But anyway, the first group, I loved seeing them out there today.”

Limited to just one series, and after the starters were held out of Carolina’s first two preseason games, Young finished 6 of 8 for 70 yards, which was 9 more than third- and fourth-stringers Jack Plummer and Jake Luton combined for in a 15-12 loss to the New York Jets last weekend.

Just as important, the 2023 top overall pick showed how much he’s grasped his first-year coach’s new offensive system while getting the opportunity to deal with various challenges in a competitive setting.

Young converted a fourth-and-3 by bolting to his left and completing a 17-yard pass to Johnson on the run. On the next snap, a play-action fake led to Young hitting Thielen over the middle for a 21-yard gain. And the touchdown pass came on third down following two incompletions, with Young waiting in the pocket before Matthews came open over the middle of the field.

“I thought it was invaluable, something that we’ve got to continue to build off and carry into the future,” Young said. “There’s practice but being able to have that in a game and there being consequences to it, I think it was great for us as an offense to be put in a situation and for us to overcome it.”

The Bills rested all of their starters to avoid risking further injury to an already limping team. Starting linebacker Matt Milano (torn left biceps) will miss at least two months, while receivers Curtis Samuel (turf toe) and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (neck) and backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky (knee) are listed week to week.

More injuries muddied the competition for Buffalo’s final roster spots, particularly at running back, with NFL teams having to set their 53-player rosters by Tuesday.

Darrynton Evans scored Buffalo’s first touchdown of the preseason with an 18-yard catch, but had to leave the game with an ankle injury. Frank Gore Jr. had 101 yards rushing, including a 5-yard touchdown run, but left the game late with a knee injury.

The Bills were so short on running backs, receiver/returner K.J. Hamler closed the game in the backfield and scored on a 1-yard run with 1:57 remaining.

Coach Sean McDermott did not have an immediate update on his injured players.

Another issue to crop up was kicker Tyler Bass missing a 51-yard field-goal attempt — he was good from 31 yards — in carrying over inconsistencies he’s had in practice.

“Those are ones he’s got to make. He knows that,” McDermott said. “It’s a kick he’s going to practice a million times this week, but yeah, he’s got to have it.”

Otherwise, much of the focus was on Young, who provided a spark to a Panthers team coming off a league-worst 2-15 finish and an offense that ranked among the NFL’s worst in several categories last season.

“I thought he did a pretty good job, not letting the pocket collapsing rattle him,” said Johnson, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh. “Those little things that we work on in practice obviously showed on that drive. So we just got to keep the consistency going, and the offense is going to be fine."

Bills starter Josh Allen was excused by the team for personal reasons a week after his maternal grandfather Vaughn Von Allman died after a lengthy illness.

Canales decided to rest primary backup Andy Dalton, noting the veteran had a good week in practice coming off a quadriceps injury, and also wanted to see more from Plummer, who finished 21 of 29 for 278 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Terrace Marshall and a 36-yarder to Jalen Coker to open the fourth quarter.

Panthers: Open regular season at the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 8.

Bills: Open regular season hosting the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 8.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jalen Coker (18) celebrates his touchdown in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Anthony Brown Jr. (5) celebrates his first down in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales talks to his team in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Anthony Brown Jr. (5) passes in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. and Buffalo Bills cornerback Kyron Brown (32) leap for a pass in the second half of an NFL preseason football game, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Buffalo Bills running back Frank Gore Jr. (20) celebrates his touchdown in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Carolina Panthers, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jalen Coker celebrates his touchdown in the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young scrambles in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) drops back to pass in the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It's noisy, smelly, shy — and New Zealand’s bird of the year.

The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election on Monday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species.

It followed a campaign for the annual Bird of the Year vote that was without the foreign interference scandals and cheating controversies of past polls. Instead, campaigners in the long-running contest sought votes in the usual ways — launching meme wars, seeking celebrity endorsements and even getting tattoos to prove their loyalty.

More than 50,000 people voted in the poll, 300,000 fewer than last year, when British late night host John Oliver drove a humorous campaign for the pūteketeke -- a “deeply weird bird” which eats and vomits its own feathers – securing a landslide win.

This year, the number of votes cast represented 10% of the population of New Zealand — a country where nature is never far away and where a love of native birds is instilled in citizens from childhood.

“Birds are our heart and soul,” said Emma Rawson, who campaigned for the fourth-placed ruru, a small brown owl with a melancholic call. New Zealand's only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved — and often rare.

This year's victor, the hoiho — its name means “noise shouter” in the Māori language — is a shy bird thought to be the world's rarest penguin. Only found on New Zealand's South and Chatham islands — and on subantarctic islands south of the country — numbers have dropped perilously by 78% in the past 15 years.

“This spotlight couldn’t have come at a better time. This iconic penguin is disappearing from mainland Aotearoa before our eyes,” Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird — the organization that runs the poll — said in a press release, using the Māori name for New Zealand. Despite intensive conservation efforts on land, she said, the birds drown in nets and sea and can't find enough food.

“The campaign has raised awareness, but what we really hope is that it brings tangible support,” said Charlie Buchan, campaign manager for the hoiho. But while the bird is struggling, it attracted a star billing in the poll: celebrity endorsements flew in from English zoologist Jane Goodall, host of the Amazing Race Phil Keoghan, and two former New Zealand prime ministers.

Aspiring bird campaign managers — this year ranging from power companies to high school students — submit applications to Forest & Bird for the posts. The hoiho bid was run by a collective of wildlife groups, a museum, a brewery and a rugby team in the city of Dunedin, where the bird is found on mainland New Zealand, making it the highest-powered campaign of the 2024 vote.

“I do feel like we were the scrappy underdog,” said Emily Bull, a spokesperson for the runner-up campaign, for the karure — a small, “goth” black robin only found on New Zealand’s Chatham Island.

The karure's bid was directed by the students’ association at Victoria University of Wellington, prompting a fierce skirmish on the college campus when the student magazine staged an opposing campaign for the kororā, or little blue penguin.

The rivalry provoked a meme war and students in bird costumes. Several people got tattoos. When the magazine’s campaign secured endorsements of the city council and local zoo, Bull despaired for the black robin's bid.

But the karure — which has performed a real-life comeback since the 1980s, with conservation efforts increasing the species from five birds to 250 — took second place overall.

This weekend as Rawson wrapped up her campaign for the ruru, she took her efforts directly to the people, courting votes at a local dog park. The veteran campaign manager who has directed the bids for other birds in past years was rewarded by the ruru placing fourth in the poll, her best ever result.

“I have not been in human political campaigning before,” said Rawson, who is drawn to the competition because of the funds and awareness it generates. The campaign struck a more sedate tone this year, she added.

“There’s been no international interference, even though that was actually a lot of fun,” she said, referring to Oliver’s high-profile campaign.

It was not the only controversy the election has seen. While anyone in the world can vote, Forest & Bird now requires electors to verify their ballots after foreign interference plagued the contest before. In 2018, Australian pranksters cast hundreds of fraudulent votes in favor of the shag.

The following year, Forest & Bird was forced to clarify that a flurry of votes from Russia appeared to be from legitimate bird-lovers.

While campaigns are fiercely competitive, managers described tactics more akin to pro wrestling — in which fights are scripted — than divisive political contests.

“Sometimes people want to make posts that are kind of like beefy with you and they’ll always message you and be like, hey, is it okay if I post this?” Bull said. “There is a really sweet community. It's really wholesome.”

A karure, or Chatham Islands black robin pictured on Chatham Island in Sept. 2016 is runner-up to a hoiho or yellow-eyed penguin in the New Zealand Bird of the Year competition, announced Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Oscar Thomas via AP)

A man rides past a mural celebrating John Oliver's New Zealand's 2023 Bird of the Year campaign in Wellington, New Zealand, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlotte GrahamMcLay)

A hoiho or yellow-eyed penguin pictured on April 2, 2023, has won New Zealand's annual Bird of the Year vote, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a fierce contest absent the foreign interference and controversies that have upset the country's avian elections before. (Hayden Parsons via AP)

A hoiho or yellow-eyed penguin pictured on April 2, 2023, has won New Zealand's annual Bird of the Year vote, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a fierce contest absent the foreign interference and controversies that have upset the country's avian elections before. (Hayden Parsons via AP)

A hoiho or yellow-eyed penguin pictured on April 2, 2023, has won New Zealand's annual Bird of the Year vote, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a fierce contest absent the foreign interference and controversies that have upset the country's avian elections before. (Hayden Parsons via AP)

A hoiho or yellow-eyed penguin pictured on April 2, 2023, has won New Zealand's annual Bird of the Year vote, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a fierce contest absent the foreign interference and controversies that have upset the country's avian elections before. (Hayden Parsons via AP)