CHARLOTTE — With every passing week, Bryce Young adds something to the list.
There have been comebacks. There have been touchdown passes. There were celebrations and little hints along the way of personality that his teammates see more often than the public.
Sunday, he showed that he could run and that he could take a hit.
There were plenty of highlights for the Panthers quarterback in the 36-30 overtime win against the Cardinals, from the career-high 68 rushing yards as evidence of his increasing ability to make plays with his feet.
But he also showed his toughness, popping up from a shot to the chest while delivering a pass to Tommy Tremble with a smile on his face, and then two plays later, putting one in a bucket to David Moore for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
When right guard Robert Hunt saw Young lying there, his initial instinct was to go get him off the ground. But the look on the quarterback's face elevated the massive guard's mood before he got there.
"It lifts me up for sure, and I know the other guys, too," Hunt said. "I saw that hit, so I ran to him, and I was kinda I was like, yo, s---, are you all right? So I checked on him, and he hopped up; he was smiling, so he's ready to play, man.
"That kid's as tough as nails, and I give him a lot of credit."
Young deserves credit for a number of things lately, beginning with the way he has handled a season no one could have scripted.
Benched after two disastrous games. Watching a veteran take his place and seemingly make the job his own. Then he gets back on the field, but only because Andy Dalton was in a car wreck the Tuesday before the trip to Denver.
And since then, he played progressively improved football, at least until last week's four-turnover unraveling against the Cowboys.
So Sunday was a chance for him to change that narrative, and he did it in a number of ways.
He completed 17-of-26 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns for a 107.5 passer rating (his highest of the season). He did it on a day when he didn't have all his weapons, as Moore (a former seventh-rounder) was the only drafted receiver in uniform.
And he continued to come up with new ways to find a way, including that burst on the ground.
"Yeah, he just played fast again," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said, summing up his quarterback's progress. "He was really decisive. You saw some of the scrambles early in the first half, where he was able to pick up some critical third downs for us there and run one in for a touchdown. It was about just being decisive, knowing where all the bones are buried, you know, and his concepts and being able to get to the scramble when those windows opened up for him.
"And again, just making some really nice throws when we needed him to."
That sounds like the very basic job description for an NFL quarterback, and the fact they're now coming more often is a sign of how far he's come. Two weeks into a season, people were openly wondering if he was capable of playing this way. Now, he's just authored his third game-winning drive of the season.
So Young, never much for reflection or getting too far ahead of himself, admitted this was more fun while pointing out how important it was for the entire team to be able to get this kind of win and bury last week's loss.
"I think this is just big for us," Young said of the group (while also making a point that applies to himself). "We talked about this last part of the the season being a great opportunity just for us to finish to set the tone for the future. Kind of just lay the foundation of where we want to go. It's a week-to-week league; we can only do one week at a time, but just having that point of emphasis and then coming out and and executing and having a great team win today, in the cold in December.
"There's no quit in this team at all, so I'm super grateful to be a part of it. Just our drive to finish, and that's something that that coach instills in us on a daily basis. I think it's showing."
Young talked about establishing an identity as a team, but he's also doing that himself right now. By making tough throws, by being accurate, and by taking shots and getting up and delivering balls into tight windows, he's convincing the people around him that he can lead by doing it.
So if he has to shake it off with a laugh when he gets drilled in the chest, then that's just part of the job.
"Everyone's out there risking their bodies, putting their bodies on the line, doing whatever it takes," he said. "I'm right there too, and you know I'm in a position where it only maybe shows up one or two times a game. So I definitely don't have anything to complain about. But yeah, whatever it takes to win, I know that, again, everyone else in that locker room is doing the same thing. So I want to be able to give my all for the team. . . .
"Just wanted to bring a spark, bring energy, be whatever the team needs."
With every passing week, Young's doing a little bit more of that — and in different ways.
Check out post-game photos from the Panthers 36-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals.