The Carolina Panthers scored the game’s only touchdown on a Bryce Young touchdown pass before he left with an injury during a 13-6 victory against the winless New York Jets on Sunday afternoon at East Rutherford, N.J.
Carolina’s defense shined, limiting the Jets (0-7) to 220 yards of total offense and benefitted from Jaycee Horn’s two interceptions.
Backup quarterbacks played most of the second half for both teams.
Ryan Fitzgerald kicked two field goals as the Panthers (4-3) won their third game in a row. They lost their first three road games of the season.
Young didn’t finish the game because of an ankle injury sustained late in the third quarter on a sack, so he was replaced by Andy Dalton. Young was 15-for-25 passing for 138 yards.
Dalton completed 4 of 7 passes for 60 yards, including a clinching 33-yard, third-down pass play to Xavier Legette (nine receptions, 92 yards) before Carolina ran out the clock.
New York backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor, playing in the second half, went 10-for-22 passing for 126 yards. Jets starting quarterback Justin Fields was pulled after the first half, when he was 6 of 12 for 46 yards.
Nick Folk kicked field goals of 34 and 47 yards for the Jets.
The Panthers had a dilemma at running back, with Chuba Hubbard returning from a two-game injury absence and starting in place of Rico Dowdle, who averaged 194.5 yards per game the previous two weeks. Hubbard was the starter Sunday, alternating series with Dowdle, who picked up 79 yards on 17 carries. Hubbard had 31 yards on 14 attempts.
The Panthers opened the second half with a 10-play possession that ended with Fitzgerald’s 30-yard field goal for a 13-3 lead.
After Folk’s second field goal, the Jets forced a Carolina punt and regained possession at their own 14 with 4:41 to play. Horn intercepted a Taylor pass for the second time, but New York got the ball back at the 2:49 mark.
The Jets were held to 97 yards of total offense in the first half. Their only points of the half came on Folk’s first field goal to tie the score in the second quarter. That scoring opportunity was set up after the Panthers were stopped on a fourth-and-1 play at their own 49-yard line.
Fitzgerald’s 30-yard field goal opened the scoring at the end of a 13-play drive in the first quarter.
The Panthers went ahead on Young’s 3-yard pass to Legette with 1:11 to play in the first half.’
