Andy Dalton's First-Half Mistakes Dug the Carolina Panthers Too Big Of A Hole To Recover From.

Bryce Young can't return to the lineup soon enough.

Back-up Andy Dalton made his first start of the year in the place of Young, who had not missed any time due to an injury since September 2023. Known as "The Red Rifle," Dalton had several costly misfires in the Bills' 40-9 rout of the Panthers.

Trailing 3-0, the Panthers were in the red-zone with an opportunity to take an early lead. However, while scrambling, Dalton had the ball punched out from behind for the first of his two lost fumbles on the afternoon.

Late in the first half — with Buffalo now leading 12-3 — Carolina desperately needed points before halftime. But one play after dropping a pretty, third-down pass on Tetairoa McMillan, Dalton fired a screen pass that linebacker AJ Epenesa telegraphed, intercepted and ran back to the Carolina one-yard line.

One play later, Josh Allen deposited the ball into the end-zone to make it 19-3. Much to the Panthers' chagrin, though, there was still more time in the second quarter for more disaster to occur.

That foreshadowed disaster struck with 17 seconds left until halftime. It was third down and goal from the Bills' four yard-line when Dalton took an ill-advised sack. Since Carolina didn't have any timeouts, it had to rush the field-goal team on and — even though it got the snap off in time — Ryan Fitzgerald missed as time expires.

For good measure, the Bills received the ball out of halftime and Allen hit Khalil Shakir for a 54-yard touchdown to stretch the margin to 26-3. At this point, Panthers fans, who were already outnumbered by the visiting Bills Mafia, started to hit the exits in what was Carolina's first home loss of the season.

The other significant factor in Carolina's lopsided loss was its run defense.

During the Panthers' three-game winning streak entering today, opponents had rushed for just 131 yards combined. The Bills' top-ranked ground attack exceeded that mark by halftime with 158 rushing yards. 

James Cook led the way with 216 yards on 19 carries. As a team, the Bills' offense amassed over 400 total yards.

The Panthers' lone touchdown was scored by Chuba Hubbard in the fourth quarter.