Solak on early NFL shockers: Why did the Panthers bench Bryce Young? How Saints, Vikings undefeated?

Happy Week 2 of the NFL season, everyone! If you're like me, you're wondering what the heck just happened. The Buccaneers, Saints and Raiders all won their games as 6-point underdogs, nearly every first-round pick in fantasy football and Will Levis are leading the league in screengrabs by 1.0 per week. What a Sunday!

Every Tuesday, I'll go over the previous week of NFL football, looking at what the biggest storylines mean for what comes next. We'll take a first look at the aftermath of “Monday Night Football,” break down a major trend or two, and highlight some key people and games. film will There will be statistics (actually a whole section of them). And there will be fun.

Go to a category:
The big thing: Young gets the bench
Contenders or Pretenders: 2-0 teams
Mailbag: Four questions from you
Second take: pass game anxiety?
Next Ben Stats: Four Wild Week 2 Stats
Monday Night Football: Prime-Time Kirk

The big thing: Bryce Young gets benched

Each week, this column will begin with a comprehensive look at a key play, player or trend from the Sunday before NFL action. What does this mean for the rest of the season? To start off this week, we decided to bench the Panthers' second-year quarterback just two weeks into the season.

In one of the biggest organizational failures in recent memory, the Carolina Panthers took 2023 No. 1 pick Bryce Young exactly 18 games into his NFL career. Among QBs with at least 10 starts since the start of last season, Young's worst dropbacks per dropback, success rate, explosive pass rate, completion percentage, NFL NextGen stats completion percentage, expected points added per yard, yards per attempt, adjusted for Net yards and total QBR.

No, wait. Sorry, he's second worst in total QBR.

For a top pick to fail spectacularly, several things have to go wrong.