Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young perfectly summed up his resurgence with a confident touchdown celebration against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Young starred in a thrilling 44-38 overtime win against the Falcons in Week 18, going 25-for-34 with 251 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for two scores himself. In the third quarter, when he threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble, Young turned his back on the end zone and signaled for a touchdown before the catch had even been made.

The celebration was instantly likened to NBA great Steph Curry, who often turns away before sinking a 3-point attempt. Young was told during a press conference that his celebration had been captioned on film, and he went on to explain the moment.

“Heard they got that on camera,” Young said. “Nah, it was definitely not planned. It was just confidence in [tight end Tommy Tremble]. I knew he was open so when I threw it I knew he was gonna catch it. I don’t know, it was, like, a reaction. I never think about it.”

But the confidence shown by Young demonstrated his rise in the second half of the season after a difficult start to the year. Young was the first-overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, but was overshadowed by No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud, who won Offensive Rookie of the Year and led the Houston Texans to the playoffs.

Young instead endured a 2-14 record as the starting quarterback in his rookie year, and after making a losing start to this season, was benched in favor of Andy Dalton. However, a car accident involving Dalton led to Young being reinstated as starter – and the young quarterback appears to have been rejuvenated.

The Panthers went 4-6 during Young’s second stint this season but were only beaten heavily in Week 17 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Young and the Panthers almost produced upsets against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, restoring hope ahead of next season.

Now, Panthers head coach Dave Canales is convinced that Young is their quarterback moving forward. “Well, I’d say we’ll take it week to week, but we got no more weeks,” Canales said. “Yeah, Bryce is our quarterback. I’m so proud of the way that he just took the challenge, and he just grew every week.

“He just took new lessons, new things applied it to his game, was engaged, challenging the guys, the whole thing.” While it took Young longer than expected to establish himself, Canales believes that it’s transformed the mood heading into the offseason.

“t’s a great feeling. It allows us to just look at the whole roster to see what the investments need to be. It helps us to think about free agency and the draft with the lens knowing we’ve got our guy. And now we can just build this team with the right mentality and just, you know, find the guys that can come in and challenge our roster like we plan on doing every year.”