The Buffalo Bills’ bye week has come and gone and now they will turn their attention to the Carolina Panthers, who received an important injury update regarding their starting quarterback in Bryce Young. According to Tom Pelissero, Young suffered a high ankle sprain in the Panthers’ Week 7 win against the Jets and is expected to miss Week 8 against the Bills.
#Panthers QB Bryce Young suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday, an MRI revealed, and he is expected to miss this week’s game against the #Bills, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 20, 2025
Andy Dalton is now in line to start against Buffalo, and quite possibly beyond. pic.twitter.com/hHFmT7MWfP
Through seven weeks of the season, Young has passed for 1,288 yards, 11 touchdowns to 5 interceptions. After a rough start to his tenure in Carolina, which included being benched last season, Young has shown promise of being a potential franchise quarterback for the Panthers. However, he still has a lot to improve on.
He has benefited from a great rushing attack, whether it’s Chuba Hubbard or Rico Dowdle which always helps a quarterback. However, Young still has yet to have that “Wow!” type of game. Now he may miss sometime this season, including this week against the Bills.
Bryce Young injury gives Bills' defense massive break
No one can argue the fact that the Bills’ defense is their biggest problem through the first two months of the season. They don’t play great situational football and have a terrible run-defense. Against the pass, they aren’t as bad but still not good enough.
With Young set to miss this week, Andy Dalton, who Bills fans still appreciate back from 2017-2018 when he led the Bengals to beat the Ravens in Week 17 of that season that helped put the Bills in the playoffs for the first time in 17 years at that point.
With Dalton now stepping in, this should give the Bills a chance to bounce back defensively, even if it’s just a little bit. The continuity may change a bit for Carolina and mistakes are bound to happen. Or, if Dalton can’t get anything going in the passing attack, the Bills can then focus in on Carolina’s rushing attack.
The Bills are back in action this coming Sunday down in Carolina and will be looking to get back into the win column for the first time since Week 4. They will be looking to do that against Andy Dalton rather than Bryce Young.