Why Panthers quarterback Bryce Young's unimpressive numbers are deceiving

Sometimes it's very easy to tell who's actually watching the games and who's only reading the box scores. Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is currently one of the best tests to tell who actually knows ball and who's pretending. Since his return to the lineup in Week 8 Young really hasn't been all that impressive statistically. However, his actual performance has been anything but.

With the exception of his flukey four-turnover game against Dallas, Young has been consistently slinging the ball deep downfield, making great passes with pressure in his face, using his legs to make plays and giving his team every chance to stay competitive.

So, why haven't Young's numbers reflected the good work he's been putting on film? A big part of the reason is his receivers have been letting him down a lot. Here's James Foster at The 33rd Team explaining how.

33rd Team on Bryce Young

"The film tells a completely different story than the box score. Young has been accurate, decisive, and confident, but his receivers haven’t given him much help. They have routinely dropped perfectly accurate deep targets or failed to land both feet in bounds in the end zone. Every quarterback’s statistics are deflated by receiver error to varying degrees, but Carolina’s receivers have left an inordinate amount of production on the field."

The worst of the drops have come from rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette, who at least has the excuse of dealing with a lingering wrist injury that may be affecting the catch point. However, the rest of Carolina's pass-catchers have also been failing Young, especially in high-leverage situations. David Moore, JT Sanders and even Adam Thielen have all dropped some perfectly-thrown balls in recent weeks that could have given Young's passing numbers a significant boost.

We know that the Panthers have to expend a lot of their resources this coming offseason on upgrading their defense, but they also have to make a real effort to upgrade the wide receiver corps. Above all else, they need receivers who are sharp route runners with soft hands. Dave Canales has proven he can scheme guys open - all they need to do is hang onto the ball. Once that starts happening consistently Young's production could very well elevate to a top-10 QB level.