Sunday will mark the 32nd start of Bryce Young\u2019s career in the NFL. It has not been an overly successful one in terms of wins \u2014 the Carolina Panthers are just 7-24 with him at the helm \u2014 but that does not mean the former first overall draft pick is not a quarterback capable of making the necessary plays to lead his team to victory.<\/p>\n
And with Young, those plays can take many forms. For the New England Patriots, the one element of his game that stands out, however, is his ability to extend plays.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe quarterback, jitterbug back there,\u201d said defensive tackle Milton Williams. \u201cHe can make all the plays. He can make all the throws. We just have to have everybody on the same page to stop the running game and try to contain the quarterback as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far this season, Young has carried the ball seven times in non-kneel-down situations. The sample size may be small, but the results speak for themselves: he gained 52 yards on those plays for an average 7.4 yards per run, and also found the touchdown once in a 30-0 beatdown of the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday.<\/p>\n
And while Young may have been a bit hit or miss<\/a> as a passer so far this year, his scrambling skills and ability to keep plays alive is nothing the Patriots are taking lightly. Just look at it from this perspective: Young is ranked 27th in the league with a total of -14.65 expected points added<\/a> per pass play, but 13th with an EPA of 3.07 in rushing situations.<\/p>\n \u201cSuper talented guy. Y\u2019all got to see the tape,\u201d said Williams. \u201cHe can make all the plays a quarterback can make. The biggest thing is going to be getting him on the ground. Feel like he one of the best at escaping. He\u2019s a smaller dude, so you just got to be be ready for him to try to shake you when you get there. Coach has been harping on us, making sure we take the extra step and get him on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Williams and the Patriots\u2019 defensive line will be put to the test through Young\u2019s escapability. However, the challenge extends beyond those tasked to containing him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really all 11,\u201d explained cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton. \u201cIt\u2019s the rush \u2014 whether that be the upfront guys, whether that be blitzers \u2014 and then the coverage piece where the down is basically never over. You just have to assume that he\u2019s going to be back there moving around and extending plays. If he doesn\u2019t, he doesn\u2019t. But I think the hardest thing for a DB to just maintain eye discipline, to have my eyes where they\u2019re supposed to be on my coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point, you have a mental clock that says this play should be over by now. And the receiver\u2019s still moving around. So, then that has to tell me, \u2018I can\u2019t look to see.\u2019 It has to tell me that, \u2018OK, he must be scrambling. I need to stay on who I\u2019m on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Hamilton added that Young\u2019s ability to make or extend plays with his feet is not unique in today\u2019s NFL, but that Young himself has a track record that exceeds other QBs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy extended all the way to being the number one pick and Heisman Trophy winner. He\u2019s done it a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got to be on point and he\u2019s going to present a good challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday will mark the 32nd start of Bryce Young\u2019s career in the NFL. It has not been an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[254,1476,260,7,7891,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,1257],"class_list":{"0":"post-398178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-bryce-young","10":"tag-carolina-panthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-milton-williams","13":"tag-new-england","14":"tag-new-england-patriots","15":"tag-newengland","16":"tag-newenglandpatriots","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-patriots","19":"tag-quarterback"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115270158517169583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}