ATLANTA -- It took five plays Sunday to see Week 2 was going to be a lot different for the Carolina Panthers' defense.
A week after getting torched for 59 points and 552 yards by the Chicago Bears and their elusive quarterback Caleb Williams, the NFL scheduling and injury gods served up journeyman QB Cooper Rush to a defense sorely in need of a get-right game. Rush delivered, losing a fumble on the first play of the game that the Panthers recovered and getting picked off by linebacker Bobby Okereke on the Falcons' fifth offensive snap.
That's all it took to start the Atlanta Falcons' fans booing and send the Panthers on their way to a 34-3 victory that helped ease the sting of the 59-37 loss in the season opener.
The win should quiet the critics of defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero a bit. But with Atlanta (0-2) missing quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa (oblique) and Michael Penix Jr., who's still recovering from ACL surgery, a caveat is probably needed.
Or not.
When a reporter asked Jaelan Phillips about whether facing Rush was good timing for the Panthers (1-1), second-year outside linebacker Princely Umanmielen interrupted and said, "We beat Penix 30-0 last year."
He's right. In fact, the Panthers have now won four in a row over the Falcons, their longest win streak against their I-85 rivals. The Panthers have five 30-plus point victories against Atlanta since 2005.
"No matter who they had at quarterback, we would have basically had the same (result)," Phillips said. "With the way we executed, the way we stopped the run, and the way we flew around and played really good, cohesive team defense, I think we would have beat anybody today."
While the Falcons endure quarterback hell, Panthers QB Bryce Young continued his dominance of Atlanta. Young completed 23 of 36 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover to improve to 5-1 all-time against the Falcons, with a 3-1 mark in Atlanta.
Young has now completed 65.7 percent of his passes (132 of 201) against Atlanta for 1,420 yards and 10 touchdowns, with two interceptions. Panthers coach Dave Canales said he's enjoyed watching the Carolina offense become Young's.
"It's so evident in the week when he's tweaking routes, angles of cuts and saying, 'Hey, I want you flatter on this one. Take one more revolution here. Come straight back to me. …" Canales said. "All these different things that are a part of our system, Bryce is fine-tuning those with the guys. And you can see the trust level, some anticipatory throws. We had one drive where we hit about three play-action shots down the field."
If Young is taking ownership of the offense in Year 4, Devin Lloyd is putting his stamp on the defense after just two games. The former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker, who signed a three-year, $45 million contract with Carolina in March, made impact plays at all three levels Sunday -- and lots of them.
Lloyd collected two interceptions, including one he ran back for a touchdown, to go with a sack and a pass breakup that resulted in Okereke's first quarter interception. He also led all players with nine tackles, one of which was a fourth-down stop of Drake London when the Falcons were still in the game.
Lloyd became the first linebacker since 1982 when sacks became an official statistic to record eight or more tackles, at least two interceptions, an interception return for a touchdown and a sack in a game.
"I don't know if I've seen a better performance out of a linebacker in 17 years of coaching in the NFL," Canales said. "It's a tribute to his study and being in the right spot. I didn't realize his hands were that good. That slant he picked off there at the end was incredible. And the run after catch on the first one. One of the most dominant linebacker performances I've seen."
Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn learned about Lloyd's knack for coming up with the ball last year when he would see his name among the league leaders in interceptions (Lloyd finished with five). But he got a close-up look in the third quarter Sunday when Lloyd made a one-handed pick of a Rush pass and returned it 53 yards into Atlanta territory.
On the Falcons' next possession, when Kevin Stefanski finally pulled Rush for Jack Strand, Lloyd greeted the undrafted rookie by grabbing a carom off receiver Jahan Dotson's body and going in for a 16-yard touchdown.
"Just elite. Just shows his knack for the football and his awareness. There's a lot of guys not making that play off the bounce like that," said Horn, who had good coverage on Dotson on the play. "But that's why we brought him here. He's a playmaker."
It was Lloyd's second career pick six, following a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown last year against Patrick Mahomes. Lloyd's only other two-interception game was last year against San Francisco.
The Lloyd signing looked like a smart one last winter. Now it's looking like a steal.
"We knew he had a knack for the football and in camp he was always in the passing windows. We were excited to get him," Horn added. "To have a smart linebacker like that, it makes our job a lot easier."
For all of his big plays, Lloyd pointed to an early tackle of running back Bijan Robinson for a short gain as the play that got him going. "The outside zone where I just shot through the gap, that's kind of what set it off and that just builds the momentum," he said. "You feel you're in the zone when you make a play like that."
The Panthers held Robinson, who Lloyd called "arguably the best running back in the world," to 72 yards on 16 carries. The defense came up with five turnovers. And a week after Chicago burned the Panthers for eight plays of at least 22 yards, the Falcons' longest play from scrimmage was a 17-yard catch by London.
It helped that Falcons' fans spent most of the afternoon jeering Rush and chanting, "We want Strand!"
"Whenever your own crowd turns against you," Lloyd said, "it's like, OK, we've gotta keep our foot on the neck and we've gotta keep playing ball the right way."
Added Phillips: "Frankly, them cheering when the other guy (Strand) came in didn't do much for them anyway."
The Panthers next week will travel to Cleveland to face the Browns, who upset the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday behind a strong performance by Deshaun Watson, who will offer a tougher test than the Rush/Strand duo.
In addition to their preparations for Cleveland, the week also figures to include Lloyd getting honored as the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week.
At a minimum.
"Player of the month," Phillips said. "Player of the year, in my book."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
