Bryce Young passes for franchise-record 448 yards to lift Panthers to 30-27 win over Falcons in OT

ATLANTA (AP) — Bryce Young fought off the criticism that accompanied his modest 124 yards passing in an ugly loss to New Orleans last week.

Young also fought through first-quarter pain in his right ankle against Atlanta, which which forced him to be checked in the locker room and appeared to threaten his ability to return.

The result of Young's resilience was the most yards passing in a game in Carolina Panthers history.

Young threw for 448 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and Ryan Fitzgerald kicked a 28-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Panthers to a 30-27 win over the Falcons on Sunday.

Young’s 54-yard pass to Tommy Tremble set up the winning kick for Carolina (6-5), which completed its sweep of reeling NFC South rival Atlanta.

The Panthers moved to within one-half game of first-place Tampa Bay in the division following the Buccaneers’ 44-32 loss to Buffalo.

Young completed 31 of 45 passes despite being escorted to the locker room late in the first quarter with a right ankle injury. He missed only one snap.

“I was able to come back and get re-taped,” Young said. “Regardless, I just wanted to be back with my guys.

“I don’t take these games for granted. You know, the Lord blessed me to be here, to have this opportunity. And any time that I am able to go, I always want to do that. So in the moment, you’re just working through pain.”

Young threw a go-ahead 12-yard touchdown pass to Tetairoa McMillan with 1:08 remaining to give Carolina a 27-24 lead. But Zane Gonzalez kicked a 45-yard field goal for Atlanta with 16 seconds remaining to force overtime.

The Falcons (3-7) suffered their fifth straight loss, including back-to-back overtime defeats.

“We got to find a way to make plays,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “I keep saying it every single week: Somebody’s got to make a play at the end, whether it be offense, defense or special teams. We had some opportunities and were not able to get it.”

Bijan Robinson ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns, but the Falcons couldn’t overcome the loss of Michael Penix Jr. to a knee injury in the third quarter. Backup Kirk Cousins couldn't move the offense in overtime.

McMillan had eight catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

Young's go-ahead scoring pass was set up by Rico Dowdle's 28-yard run to the 10. A replay review ruled Dowdle stepped out of bounds on what was initially ruled a 38-yard touchdown run by the officials.

Atlanta's secondary was short-handed with cornerbacks Dee Alford and Mike Hughes inactive. Young and the Panthers targeted fill-in cornerback Natrone Brooks often, including on Young's 36-yard scoring pass to Xavier Legette in the third quarter, cutting Atlanta's lead to 21-16.

Brooks then fumbled the kickoff return, giving the Panthers the ball at the Atlanta 32. Young was stopped by Kaden Elliss on a fourth-down run from the Atlanta 8.

Penix left in the third quarter with a left knee injury with Atlanta leading 21-16. Penix missed the Falcons' 34-10 loss to Miami on Oct. 26 with a bone bruise on his left knee. Morris had no update on Penix, who completed 13 of 16 passes for 175 yards after struggling with accuracy in last week's 31-25 overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Berlin.

Carolina rallied after trailing 21-7 in the second quarter.

“It's part of our identity; we embrace that,” Young said. “It's just resilience. We talk about it. Whatever it was, it's on to the next play.”

Young was 7 of 8 for 67 yards, including a 7-yard scoring pass to McMillan, on Carolina's opening drive. The strong start gave him half of his full-game total of 124 yards passing in last week's 17-7 loss to New Orleans.

Cam Newton held the previous Carolina record with 432 passing yards against Green Bay on Sept. 18, 2011.

“It's definitely an honor. I have so much respect for Cam and all he has accomplished,” Young said. “To be able to be mentioned with Cam, it's definitely an honor.”

Morris, in his second season, acknowledged the responsibility for another close loss will fall on him.

“You know, we’ve lost a bunch of games in a row in tight moments, and you got to find a way to win those games,” Morris said. “It definitely is on me. There’s no such thing as a losing team. There’s only a losing leader, and I’m the leader, and we lost.”

Panthers: LB Trevin Wallace was held out with a shoulder injury he suffered last week. Claudin Cherelus moved up as the starter.

Falcons: WR Drake London was ruled out with a knee injury at the start of overtime after he had seven catches for 119 yards. ... The defense was short-handed as Alford (concussion), Hughes (neck), DE Leonard Floyd (hamstring) and DL Zach Harrison (knee) were inactive. Another notable inactive was LG Matthew Bergeron (ankle), while RG Chris Lindstrom (foot) started after returning to practice Friday.

Panthers: Visit San Francisco in a Monday night game on Nov. 24.

Falcons: Visit New Orleans next Sunday.

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Carolina Panthers quarterback Mike White (16) celebrates his two-point conversion score with Ja'Tavion Sanders (0) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Carolina Panthers place kicker Ryan Fitzgerald (10) celebrates his game wining field goal during overtime of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) drops back in the second half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) carries against Carolina Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson (2) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) celebrates his touchdown with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) in the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) drops back under pressure in the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) celebrates his touchdown pass in the second half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Launch preparations have begun for the Artemis II mission, NASA’s planned lunar fly-around by four astronauts that will be the first moon trip in 53 years.

Tensions were high as hydrogen fuel started flowing into the rocket hours ahead of the planned launch. Dangerous hydrogen leaks erupted during a countdown test earlier this year, forcing a lengthy flight delay.

The launch team needs to load more than 700,000 gallons of fuel (2.6 million liters) into the 32-story Space Launch System rocket on the pad before the Artemis II crew can board.

The 32-story Space Launch System rocket is poised to blast off Wednesday evening with a two-hour launch window beginning at 6:24 p.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be on board. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk — just a quick out-and-back lasting less than 10 days. NASA promises more boot prints in the gray lunar dust, but not before a couple practice missions.

Unlike the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the moonfrom 1968 through 1972, Artemis’ debut crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian citizen.

Artemis II is the opening shot of NASA’s grand plans for a permanent moon base. The space program is aiming for a moon landing near the lunar south pole in 2028.

The Latest:

The wind is picking up at Cape Canaveral, more clouds are appearing and rain is expected in about two hours. But there is no lightning threat, NASA says, and there’s still an 80% chance the weather will be good enough to launch.

L-minus tracks the overall time to liftoff, counting down the days, hours and minutes away before the planned blastoff. It doesn’t include built-in holds, or pauses — that’s T-minus time.

The T-minus countdown in the final 10 minutes is where nerves tense up and hearts start pounding. Automated software kicks off a series of highly choreographed milestones. During this period, the clock can be stopped if a problem is spotted and restarted if it’s fixed in time.

T-0 is the moment of liftoff — zero — when the boosters ignite and the rocket begins its journey.

NASA has a narrow time frame each month to fly to the moon.

The Earth and moon must be aligned just so to achieve the proper trajectory for the mission. In any given month, there’s only about a week when Artemis II astronauts can lift off.

The Orion capsule needs to get a check of its life-support and other systems in near-Earth orbit. If that goes well, Orion will fire its main engine to hurtle toward the moon, taking advantage of the moon and Earth’s gravity to get there and back in a slingshot maneuver that requires little if any fuel.

Orion also needs sunlight for power and can’t be in darkness for more than 90 minutes at a time. Plus NASA wants to minimize heating during reentry at flight’s end.

The latest launch window runs through April 6. The next opportunity opens on April 30.

The hydrogen tank of the rocket’s core stage is 100% filled. NASA said no significant leaks have been observed so far in fueling. It was hydrogen leaks that prevented the rocket from flying in February.

The alarm clocks just went off in Kennedy Space Center’s crew quarters.

That means it’s rise and shine for the three Americans and one Canadian who are about to become the first lunar visitors in more than 53 years.

They have a long day ahead of them, whether they launch or not.

After breakfast, they’ll start suiting up. NASA’s launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. and lasts a full two hours.

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is wearing green as are many of the controllers alongside her in the firing room.

Green represents “go” for NASA, a color symbolizing good luck.

The team is monitoring the fueling of the 322-foot moon rocket, set to blast off Wednesday evening.

A plush toy named Rise will ride with the Artemis II astronauts around the moon, carrying the names of more than 5.6 million people.

Rise is what’s known as a zero gravity indicator, which gives the astronauts a visual cue of when they reach space.

The design was inspired by the iconic “Earthrise” photo during Apollo 8, showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968.

Rise was selected from more than 2,600 contest submissions. It was designed by Lucas Ye of California.

Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew tucked a small memory card into Rise before the toy was loaded into the Orion capsule. The card bears the names of all those who signed up with NASA to vicariously tag along on the nearly 10-day journey.

“Zipping that little pocket on the bottom of Rise was kind of the moment that put it all together for me,” Wiseman said. “We are going for all and by all. It’s time to fly.”

NASA is fueling the new rocket that will send four astronauts to the moon.

Launch teams have begun pumping more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It’s the latest milestone in the two-day countdown that kicked off on Monday when launch controllers reported to duty.

It will take at least four hours to fully load the rocket before astronauts climb aboard for humanity’s first flight to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The two-hour launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. EDT.

▶ Read more about Apollo vs. Artemis

The Americans who blazed the trail to the moon more than half a century ago were white men chosen for their military test pilot experience.

The Artemis II crew includes a woman, a person of color and a Canadian, products of a more diversified astronaut corps.

▶ Read more about Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman

NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center hours ahead of planned liftoff Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

NASA's Artermis II moon rocket sits on Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center hours ahead of a planned launch attempt Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Photographers set up remote cameras near NASA's Artermis II moon rocket on Launch Pad 39-B just before sunrise at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)