Young, McMillan connect for 2 TDs to lead Panthers past Lions 32-26

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales was a little worried after Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan had some issues connecting on passes in practice.

You'd never know it by the way they played Sunday night.

Young completed 29 of 41 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns to McMillan, who had 14 catches for a career-high 192 yards, and the Panthers overcame an injury-filled week to beat the Detroit Lions 32-26.

“Everything just clicked tonight,” McMillan said. “There were some plays throughout the week that we may not have hit on, but (offensive coordinator) Brad Idzik called the plays and Bryce trusted it. He made good throws and we converted. I can't tell you what happened tonight. Maybe it was just the Charlotte air.”

Young, who was serenaded with “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants by fans in the fourth quarter, said he never second-guessed throwing McMillan's way because he has so much confidence in him.

“I know what kind of player he is. He's special,” Young said. “I always trust him. I have confidence in him and I know one (bad) practice isn't going to change that."

Also, Young didn't have a lot of other experienced options.

With two of Carolina's top three wide receivers in Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette out with injuries, Young was forced to heavily on McMillan, and the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year.

And he responded in a big way early on for the Panthers (2-2).

McMillan had nine catches for 147 yards in the first half, including a 32-yard touchdown.

He joined Steve Smith Sr. and Patrick Jeffers as the only Carolina players with at least 10 receptions, 150 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a game. And he came close to breaking the franchise records for receptions (15) set by Christian McCaffrey and yards receiving (201) held by Smith.

Young entered Week 4 leading the league in yards passing and the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 opened the game by completing his first 11 passes.

Chuba Hubbard gave the running game a needed spark carrying 20 times for a season-high 122 yards and two touchdowns as Carolina scored on six straight possessions after punting on its opening drive.

Jared Goff threw for 412 yards and a touchdown to Sam LaPorta for Detroit (2-2) and Jahmyr Gibbs added 77 yards from scrimmage and scored his seventh touchdown of the year, but the Lions didn't look as explosive as they had been the first three games of the season.

Detroit was able to overcome McMillan's big first half and tie the game before the break.

Jameson Williams hauled in a 49-yard reception down the middle against an injury-depleted Carolina secondary that lost starting cornerback Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson to eight-week-long injuries last week.

That set up Jake Bates' field goal to make it 16-all.

But Detroit's defense couldn't get off the field in the second half as Young repeatedly found an open McMillan.

Even after the Lions cut the lead to 32-26 with 3:38 left in the game on LaPorta's TD catch, McMillan responded with a toe-tapping reception along the right sideline for a first down that kept the clock moving.

Still, drive ended in a sack and the Panthers were forced to punt.

The Lions had a chance to win the game on their final drive, which started at their own 13 with 2:12 remaining. But Goff couldn't pick up a first down and Young knelt down twice to end it.

“We got ourselves in a hole there, which is frustrating,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “At the end of the day, we had our opportunities. Our defense came up with a stop and we had the ball with about with two minutes left to go win the game. And we just couldn’t get it done.”

Lions: Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin left in the second half with a hamstring injury.

Panthers: Rookie right tackle Monroe Freeling, the team's first-round draft pick, injured a knee in the third quarter and did not return. Coker was inactive with a quadriceps injury. Linebacker Jaelan Phillips left in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. Canales had no update on either player after the game.

Lions: At Arizona next Sunday.

Panthers: Will have a chance to heal up with a bye next week before visiting Philadelphia on Oct. 18.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) scores a touchdown during an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) passes the ball during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Carolina Panthers cornerback Akayleb Evans (29) pushes Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) out of bounds during an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) celebrates after he scores a touchdown during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) celebrates after Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) scores a touchdown during an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government began a major offensive Monday against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on the country's Red Sea coast, under an intensified air campaign by the Saudi-led coalition.

The offensive came just after the rebels said they had captured more territory in the southwestern part of Yemen, taking a key town in a blow to the Saudi-backed forces as they advanced toward a strategic provincial capital in the region.

The Saudi-led coalition spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said 100 fighter jets were providing support to the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government fighting against the Houthis. He said the coalition has secured “air protection” of the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait and destroyed hundreds of Houthi targets as part of the ongoing campaign.

The campaign and its details could not be immediately independently verified.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that it was expected that the Saudi-backed government in Yemen would hit back at the rebels to reclaim territory. Asked if the Saudi-led coalition coordinated the action with the United States, Rubio said that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have a defense agreement but wouldn’t offer more details.

He said the Yemeni government was ousted from some of its territory by a Houthi campaign and the Saudis have come under attack, and “they have a right to defend themselves."

The U.S. has provided support to Saudi Arabia in its ongoing campaign against the Houthis, according to a regional official and a U.S. official. This U.S. support included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the offensive, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to reporters.

The U.S. had supported the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis early in the Yemen war, before quitting the coalition in recent years.

The Houthi rebels seized the town of Turbah on Sunday, shortly before the internationally recognized government announced a major military operation against them.

The escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire.

Turbah sits on a main road linking the provincial capital of Taiz with the port city of Aden, which serves as an interim seat of Yemen's government. Over the years, the town was a major post for the government forces defending Taiz against the Houthis.

Earlier, the Houthis seized several villages and areas on Taiz's outskirts in a series of advances, paving the way for the rebels to encircle Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city.

The Houthis made a swift push on the country's western coast on the Red Sea in early September. They captured the strategic city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands, gains that enabled them to control the Yemeni side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial chokepoint through which 12% of global trade transits.

In its announcement Sunday, the Saudi-backed government said it was mobilizing troops across government-held areas.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the ruling Presidential Leadership Council, said in a televised speech that the operations were aiming at “recovering the remaining territories” controlled by the Houthis. He called on the international community to provide support to his government.

Hours after al-Alimi’s declaration, a Saudi military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, vowed “full operational support” to the Yemeni government forces, until the Houthis are “eliminated.”

Al-Malki also stressed Saudi Arabia’s right to take all necessary measures to deter the rebels who continued to fire missiles and drones at the kingdom as part of the nearly three-month escalation that revived Yemen’s civil war.

On Monday, factions allied with the Saudi-backed coalition fighting the Houthis said they launched offensives against the rebels on the eastern flank of the coastal areas that the Houthis had seized in their latest advances.

They attacked Houthi positions in the town of Dhubab, on the coast of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, said Col. Majed al-Nazili, spokesman for the Saudi-backed forces.

The Giants Brigades, a government-allied group, said it began a “decisive military operation against the Houthi militias,” also in the Bab el-Mandeb area.

Al-Alimi said in a post on X on Monday that the operation — dubbed “Yemen Dawn” — has started with the aim of “restoring state institutions, liberating" Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital, and ending "the Houthi terrorist militia coup.”

Al-Nazili said government forces were carrying out a “strategic offensive” on Sanaa. The Houthi media office reported multiple airstrikes by the Saudi coalition on their territories, including Sanaa.

The latest flare-up began in mid-July, when the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing the airport in Sanaa to prevent the landing of an unauthorized Iranian flight. The rebels responded with missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government forces in the country.

They also announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and attacked several Saudi-linked vessels.

Then in September, they intensified their campaign, storming down the Red Sea coast in their biggest land grab in years.

The rebels' taking of Turbah “will likely severely constrain Yemeni government-aligned forces’ ability to reinforce and resupply front-line positions” across Taiz province and the provincial capital of Taiz, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

“Disrupting resupply has military value, of course, but controlling all the roads in and out of areas to the north of Turbah also prevents government forces from retreating out of the city,” the think tank wrote in a Sunday analysis.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis descended from their northern stronghold, capturing Sanaa and forcing the government to flee into exile in Saudi Arabia. The war created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters and killed more than 150,000 people.

The latest bout of violence has killed at least 959 people and wounded over 4,200 others, according to the World Health Organization. The flare-up forced about 174,097 people to flee their homes inside Yemen, according to the U.N. migration agency. More than 3,000 others fled across the waters into Djibouti, the agency reported.

Last week, Yemen’s health ministry — part of the internationally recognized government — warned about the conflict’s impact on health facilities and medical staff across Taiz province. The ministry said in a statement on Friday that health facilities in coastal, western and southern areas of the province have closed or are barely partially functioning.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

A tea seller pours milk from a can as he prepares tea at a market in Houthi-controlled Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Yemeni civilians celebrate while riding in the back of a pickup truck in the Bani Matar district, Yemen, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city. (AP Photo/STR)

A man walks inside a damaged sponge factory in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)