The Carolina Panthers were down, 21-7, on Sunday with 1:12 left in the first half at Empower Field at Denver. Carolina, lacking timeouts after the Denver Broncos’ third consecutive touchdown drive, needed a spark before halftime in order to bring some sort of momentum into the locker room.

Second-year QB Bryce Young, starting in his first game since Week 2, fired a pass roughly 15 yards down the field to a wide-open Xavier Legette down the seam. The ball, though, bounced off the first-round pick’s hands and fell incomplete. The next play was a dump-off to running back Chuba Hubbard, and then center Brady Christensen was whistled for a false-start penalty.

Facing strong coverage on third-and-13, Young simply scrambled to the boundary for a 4-yard gain instead of forcing the ball down the field. The Panthers then punted away their opportunity to gain some points before the half.

That sequence summed up Young’s return to the starting lineup in Denver during a 28-14 loss on the road. He didn’t make flashy plays. He didn’t elevate the players around him. And frankly, his teammates let him down in several instances as well.

Young didn’t make any highlight throws beyond 10 yards until the Panthers trailed by multiple touchdowns in the second half.

As in his two previous starts, Young tried to operate the offense with little zest. While he threw for his first passing touchdown of the season, his opening-drive competence wasn’t sustained. He was also gifted fantastic field position to start that series following a fumble recovery from the defense on the Denver 49-yard line.

To be fair, there was a lot going against Young in this game. He was playing without the team’s top two wideouts — Diontae Johnson (rib) and Adam Thielen (hamstring - injured reserve) — and with one of the worst defenses in the league. He was also going against a top-five passing defense on the road, and Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix had a career game by the third quarter.

While the Panthers didn’t publicly paint this as a redemption outing for Young, his performance probably wasn’t good enough to push him back into the lineup when Andy Dalton recovers from his thumb injury. The stark contrast between Young — in his 19th start — and Nix — in his eighth start — won’t help either.

That differences between Nix and Young will only push the sentiment that Young isn’t ready to lead an offense in the big leagues.

Here is how Young graded out in the blowout loss:

Panthers QB Bryce Young’s stats vs. Broncos

Young completed 24-of-37 passes (64.9%) for 224 yards, two touchdown and two interceptions. Young had a 76.9 passer rating on the afternoon. He also picked up six rushing yards, while being sacked twice.

Young’s accuracy grade

Young went 5-of-5 on the opening drive against the Broncos following a forced fumble and recovery by Panthers nose tackle Shy Tuttle. After starting at the Denver 49-yard line, Young did a nice job of taking what the Broncos’ defense gave him, using running backs Hubbard and Miles Sanders as short-yardage targets. He also hit rookies Jalen Coker and Legette for important gains on the first series, including a 6-yard TD strike to Legette to cap the drive.

Young’s first incompletion of the game came on the second series with his back to the end zone on third-and-6. He threw off the mark to a heavily covered David Moore. No one was relatively available as the Broncos did a nice job in coverage on the play.

Despite Young’s solid-enough start, he didn’t complete a pass that traveled more than 10 yards until the middle of the second quarter. He finished with two completions that went for double-digit gains, but one of those — a Hubbard gain of 13 yards — was thrown a few yards in front of him and the receiver did most of the lifting.

He finished the first half with 11 completions on 14 throws (78.6%) for 60 yards and a passing touchdown. He targeted six different receivers in the first two quarters.

The Panthers had a three-and-out to start the first after Young fired a low ball down the seam to Coker. The ball was a bit off the mark as Coker ran down the field and fell incomplete.

Young continued to struggle in the second half. He missed Legette by a few inches on a “go” ball down the left sideline that would have gone for a huge gain. The pair just failed to connect despite some room in coverage. Young ended the same drive with a checkdown to running back Miles Sanders that fell short of the sticks.

Young made an excellent toss down the left sideline in the third quarter to Coker for a 29-yard gain. But that highlight play was followed a few snaps later with an off-the-mark interception. He threw another interception on a fade ball into the end zone in the fourth quarter. It was a 50-50 shot to Coker, but Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian came away with the ball to force a turnover and a touchback with Denver up 28-7.

He finished with a 64.9% completion percentage after targeting eight different receivers.

Grade: D

Young’s awareness grade

Young just didn’t have the juice as a distributor Sunday. He was off the mark on a few potentially big plays, he didn’t really play with rhythm outside of the first series, and he did little to get most of the offense. Despite a scripted series that led to a touchdown, Young looked like the same old, overmatched prospect from his previous two starts.

He was skittish at times and didn’t push the ball downfield consistently enough, especially with a multiple-touchdown deficit. When he wasn’t dropping the ball off in the flat, the offense felt — well — flat. The offense lacked rhythm and zeal, and really that’s just as much on head coach Dave Canales as it is on Young, who just seems like he is incapable of putting the offense on his back for more than a play or two.

His best throw of the game came on a 29-yard strike to Coker down the left sideline with the game out of hand in the third quarter. It was an excellent throw, but one that rarely gets highlighted by Young. Just a few plays after the strike to Coker, Young threw a ball off the mark to tight end Tommy Tremble that was intercepted by cornerback Patrick Surtain II.

The young quarterback is consistently under-delivering, and with more than 20 games of experience, it feels like that shouldn’t still be happening for a top pick.

Grade: D

Young’s mobility grade

Young scrambled for a 4-yard gain to end the Panthers’ first-half work on offense. He was able to scramble a little bit in the pocket early to avoid being sacked, but he didn’t really do much when freed from pressure.

Young’s mobility wasn’t particularly apparent in this one. While he had solid protection throughout most of the afternoon, he rarely took off running or extended plays for big gains.

He finished with six yards on three carries.

Grade: D

Young’s turnover/big play grade

Young threw two second-half interceptions with the game largely out of hand.

He targeted Tremble down the seam and the ball drifted to the left into the hands of Surtain for the first pick. The Broncos were up 28-7 in the final minutes of the third quarter. He then got picked off on a jump ball to Coker by McMillian in the end zone.

Young completed 10 passes that went for 10 yards or more on the afternoon. Several of Young’s downfield attempts lacked touch and accuracy. He had a garbage-time, 15-yard touchdown strike to Coker with 18 seconds left in the blowout loss.

He took two sacks in the game, which for the most part, felt like a result of him holding the ball too long against a proficient pass rush.

Grade: D

Young’s overall grade vs. Denver

Young wasn’t a complete disaster, but he was pretty mediocre. This game was an opportunity to prove doubters wrong — internally and externally — and well, outside of the opening drive, this largely flat performance was more damning than dashing.

When Nix — an uneven performer during his rookie season so far — is throwing deep shots every drive and putting up points, and Young still looks like a sixth-round pick being shoved into his first NFL action, it’s a problem. This game won’t make or break Young’s NFL career, but it certainly won’t push Dalton off the field when he’s healthy. At some point, Young needed to let the ball rip with consistency, but he was mostly meek in the middle of the field.

There isn’t much fire there — in personality or talent. It’s hard to see Young getting another shot before the bye week if Dalton recovers in time for the Week 9 matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

Overall grade: D

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