Carolina's own defense had allowed 59 points the week before, which made this as much a test of whether that unit could stop anybody as it was a test of Rush. It answered emphatically, holding the Falcons to a single field goal for the entire afternoon.
Atlanta had reasons to believe it could hang — A.J. Terrell back to full practice, Chris Lindstrom active despite a concussion scare — but none of it mattered once the offense couldn't find the end zone even once against a defense that had looked broken seven days earlier.
Young finished 23-of-36 for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns, two of them to Darren Waller, pushing his career record against Atlanta to 5-1. On the other side, Devin Lloyd picked off Rush twice and returned one for a touchdown, turning the Panthers' shaky pass defense from a week ago into the play that broke the game open.
Both teams are 0-2 to start the season, but only one of them looks like it has answers. Carolina's defense bounced back in the way a good unit is supposed to after a bad week, and Atlanta is still searching for stability at quarterback with nobody healthy behind Rush.