CHARLOTTE — In a perfect world, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young would drop back, quickly see multiple open options, pick the best one, and throw.

It's seldom a perfect world.

In recent weeks, Young has attacked those imperfections by slipping into what they refer to in the quarterbacks room as "baller mode" and making more and more plays.

"Yeah, that's definitely a term we use," Young said with a laugh because it's not the kind of label he would self-apply. "That's something that coach (Dave) Canales talks about a lot, we talk a lot about in our room.

"So yeah, that's part of the plan."

But what is baller mode, other than the phrase quarterbacks coach Will Harriger coined which invokes a certain swagger? In short, it's improvising when a play breaks down, but that undersells the amount of preparation that goes into it. You have to plan months ahead of time to make split-second decisions the way he has in the last few weeks. If there's pressure, or that internal play clock gets on the other side of 2.7 seconds, that's when it's time to go make a play.

They also call it "the second play," and running it effectively is a matter of instinct and will, along with all the preparation.

"It's confidence, and it's decisiveness, it's knowing what the concept is, getting a preview of what's happening from a coverage standpoint and then making quick decisions," Canales said by way of explanation. "And if you can play on time, throw to the first open guy and then progress quickly, get to your scrambles once you're above that 2.7, as Will Harriger says, you activate the second play, baller mode. Here we go. And, you know, he's getting to those things, and he's winning the down and finding ways to win.

"And that's kind of my message always to quarterbacks that I've been talking to forever is there's a win in every play. Sometimes, it's that on-time completion. Sometimes, it's the off-schedule play. Sometimes it's a throwaway. Sometimes it's a sack and the play with the ball, they got us. So there's different ways to win the down so that we can continue to have opportunities and he's just doing a great job of being really decisive."

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik joked that it's the first play Harriger installs each week, often before he enters the room.

"That's a license to go ahead and activate baller mode above the 2.7 time clock whenever you want," he said. "So Bryce has done a phenomenal job, and what it does for us is heighten the importance of putting guys into space and having spatial awareness.

"But they also say the ball finds energy. When Bryce is operating on that, what do you do if you want to call it the second play? A burst of energy right into space, understanding where other guys are. So you can go occupy the open space in the defense. That clicks, and that sets Bryce's eyes to those spots."

Idzik mentioned his go-ahead touchdown pass to Adam Thielen with 30 seconds left in regulation last week as an example.

"So if you look at Thielen's route at the end of the game, he's running over the middle of the field, there's a linebacker drop in underneath it, Bryce steps up, rolls out right, and then bursts to the open space," Idzik explained. "We try to incorporate to our guys all the time like we're putting you in spots where there's spatial awareness on the field, but that ball will find the energy.

"So if you burst into that space, that kind of catches the quarterback's eyes when they're scrambling around and dealing with pressure. And then that's when the big plays occur above the 2.7."

Thielen said he learned how to make those kinds of plays years before in Minnesota when he went through many detailed conversations with then-quarterback Kirk Cousins throughout the spring. It's not the kind of process you can begin in the fall, as quarterbacks and receivers have to understand each other's unspoken language well before it's time to speak it into existence.

"Just so when you get in those critical moments, it's not a guessing game, it's more just being on the same page," Thielen said.

That's why he spent so much time in the spring in deep conversations with Young (long before he got benched, long before it took a car wreck to get him back on the field, long before he started playing like the guy they expected).

And seeing Young make those kinds of adjustments now is exciting for the veteran wideout because it shows Young's growth within what they're trying to build and how much progress he's made since the time when he wasn't even attempting many of those throws.

"I mean, that's what made him so great in college, right?" Thielen said. "He's a guy who sees the field really well, very quickly. And again, it's really just seeing him kind of be himself and just really trusting it and just letting it rip.

"I don't think it was about making those throws, it was more about trusting it and just letting it rip and dealing with the results, you know? So often, we want to force these results or be perfect because that's how we're wired as athletes, and that's also what makes him great. Right?

"He wants to be perfect; he wants to do things the right way. But I think when he truly just is going out there and being himself and just being an athlete, being a competitor, that's when good things show up."

Of course, Young's nature is not to get caught up in comparisons to the past or pat himself on the back for last week's accomplishments. As much as some of the instinctive throws have shown themselves in recent weeks, he's still very programmed when it's time to talk about them.

"Once the week's over, it's not feeling pride about something or having an ego about something. That doesn't help me in the next game," he replied when asked if there were particular throws he was proud of. "It doesn't help me learn and grow. It doesn't help me watch film throughout the week. You know, you look at stuff, and if something went well, you think, all right, how can I replicate it? How can I keep doing it? How can I talk to guys and make sure we can do that consistently?

"And then when you miss something, you look at the film to look at how you can grow and improve. So, it's not really a pride thing. It's just more about how I could be consistent and grow moving forward."

Young might not be charting them, but others are. At the most basic statistical level, he hasn't turned the ball over in the last three weeks. And there's clearly a progression from his 126 yards in the win over the Giants to the 263 against the Chiefs to the season-high 298 against the Bucs. He's throwing for more yards, and he's making more throws.

Pro Football Focus charts what they call "big-time throws" and Young has nine of them in the last two weeks, more than any quarterback in the league. They define those as "a high-difficulty, high-value pass. They are characterized by excellent ball placement and timing, typically on deeper passes or into tight windows."

Young has thrown more of those, and thrown more while being pressured, in recent weeks, and he's delivering.

According to Next Gen Stats, since returning to the starting lineup in Week 8, Young has completed +3.6 percent of his passes over expected and generated positive EPA on 40.3 percent of his pressured dropbacks. In the first two weeks, those numbers were -12.2 percent and 9.5 percent. So, even if you don't understand complicated statistical analysis, the idea that more is better seems clear.

"I think you look down the stretch, you just see a number of them, right? Idzik said. "Putting accurate throws out there with pressure, pressure in his face, just standing in there and having confidence for his guys to win. He's done a phenomenal job of elevating his game throughout the whole season and taking steps every week. And those have come up in some really key moments down the stretch which has been really fun to watch.

"Just the trust that he has in his guys, the reps that we've had with his guys running the routes and then also the protection up front, just giving him a chance to make those throws, that confidence and the decisiveness of putting the ball where he wants it and the guys being there just comes with the reps and the trust that he's developed over time with these guys. Been really fun to watch."

It's the kind of thing that's easier to see looking backward because, as Thielen said, he can't fully appreciate it in real-time. He's trying to run a route, so he's not often aware of the pressure or the protection Young's dealing with until they watch film the next day.

"When I go back and see some of the throws from the All-22, I don't usually see what's happening until the ball's in the air," he said. "So I think when you go back, and you look at the film, and you see him, cover zero, pressure in his face just buying time to let me win my route and then just throwing it with anticipation and kind of like, I hope this is where he's going. Those are the throws that you're like, all right, that's a big-time play, especially in crucial moments.

"So, you kind of look for those moments to see the progression, and I think that's where you've seen the biggest progression of just trusting himself, trusting the guys around him, trusting the calls and just, and letting it rip and kind of dealing with what the results."

And the results have clearly been better. Baller, even.