CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bryce Young will make his fourth straight start at quarterback for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Panthers coach Dave Canales made the announcement Monday after the team returned to practice following a bye week.
The Panthers won back-to-back games for the first time since 2022 before the bye with victories over the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants — the latter of which was played in Germany — with Young under center.
Although the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 didn’t put up great numbers during those two wins, throwing for a combined 297 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, he was able to improve his career record as a starter to 4-17.
Canales wouldn’t commit to Young starting after the win over the Giants heading into the bye week because he said he wanted to take time to gather information.
“This is about Bryce looking more and more confident as he was out there in Germany," Canales said. "I just felt a real confidence and an aggressiveness to the play and all of those things. And of course, the end result was winning. He continues to put us in a position to put him back out there and continue to build on that.”
Canales said after studying the game file that he’s seeing chemistry beginning to develop between Young and the team’s two rookie receivers, Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker.
He said with players getting on the same page it has allowed him to call more plays where Young is able to throw the ball downfield and stretch the defense.
“It’s on me giving him more opportunities to take those looks down there,” Canales said. “And it’s about the chemistry with the guys and how to throw different balls to different receivers with their skill sets. It’s a chemistry thing, and also myself (as a play caller) finding those opportunities to attack the defense.”
Canales said he will continue to evaluate the quarterback situation on a week-to-week basis.
Young was benched for journeyman Andy Dalton after the Panthers started the season 0-2 and were outscored 73-13.
But Young regained his starting spot after Dalton sprained his thumb in a car accident, and hasn't surrendered the job since.
The Chiefs picked up their first loss of the season on Sunday, 31-20 against the Buffalo Bills.
Canales said he expects wide receiver Adam Thielen and rookie running back Jonathon Brooks to play Sunday.
Brooks, the team's second-round pick from Texas, hasn't played this season while recovering from an ACL injury that he suffered in college. Thielen has been out since Week 3 when he injured his hamstring while making a diving touchdown catch in the end zone.
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Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young against the New York Giants during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young celebrates after a touchdown by running back Chuba Hubbard during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young runs against the New York Giants during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard celebrates his touchdown with quarterback Bryce Young during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde conceded defeat on Monday to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin in their U.S. Senate race, saying he did not want to "add to political strife through a contentious recount” even though he raised debunked election conspiracies.
Hovde, who was backed by President-elect Donald Trump, could have requested a recount because his margin of defeat was less than 1 percentage point, at about 29,000 votes. He would have had to pay for it himself.
Baldwin’s campaign referred requests for comment on Hovde’s concession on Monday to her victory speech last week. In that address, Baldwin pledged to work with Trump when possible but also vowed to fight him to protect the national health care law and abortion rights.
Hovde, in his concession video, repeated claims he first made last week, saying there were “many troubling issues” related to absentee ballots in Milwaukee and when they were reported. Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan election leaders all refuted the claims of impropriety Hovde made.
“Without a detailed review of all the ballots and their legitimacy, which will be difficult to obtain in the courts, a request for a recount would serve no purpose because you will just be recounting the same ballots regardless of their integrity," Hovde said Monday.
Although there is no evidence of wrongdoing in the election, many Hovde supporters questioned a surge in votes for Baldwin that were reported by Milwaukee around 4:30 a.m. the morning after the election. Those votes put Baldwin over the top.
The votes were the tabulation of absentee ballots from Milwaukee. Those ballots are counted at a central location and reported all at once, often well after midnight on Election Day. Elections officials for years have made clear that those ballots are reported later than usual because of the sheer number that have to be counted and the fact that state law does not allow for processing them before polls open.
Republicans and Democrats alike, along with state and Milwaukee election leaders, warned in the days and weeks leading up to the election that the Milwaukee absentee ballots would be reported late and cause a huge influx of Democratic votes.
Hovde also repeated his complaint about the candidacy of Thomas Leager, who ran as a member of the America First Party. Leager, a far-right candidate who was recruited by Democratic operatives and donors to run as a conservative, finished a distant fourth.
Republicans supported independent presidential candidates Cornel West and Jill Stein in efforts to take votes away from Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to get his name removed from the ballot in Wisconsin and other swing states after he backed Trump.
In the Wisconsin Senate race, Leager got about 400 fewer votes than the margin between Baldwin and Hovde. But Hovde claimed on Monday that he would have won the Senate race if Leager had not been on the ballot.
Baldwin declared victory after The Associated Press called the race for her on Nov. 6. She outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost Wisconsin by about as many votes as Baldwin defeated Hovde.
The Baldwin win came in the face of Democratic losses nationwide that allowed Republicans to take control of the Senate.
Her win was the narrowest of her three Senate races. Baldwin won in 2012 by almost 6 percentage points and in 2018 by nearly 11 points.
Hovde, a multimillionaire bank owner and real estate developer, first ran for Senate in 2012 but lost in the Republican primary. He poured millions of dollars of his own money into his losing campaign this year.
Hovde on Monday did not rule out another political campaign in the future. Some Republicans have floated him as a potential candidate for governor in 2026.
Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde speaks at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde speaks at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
