A final score hides most of what happened on the field. Across their two 2025 meetings, the Panthers and Saints produced a surprise quarterback duel, a young receiver group exploding in real time, and one passer who kept slicing through Carolina’s coverage no matter what the defense tried.
This guide walks through the Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints match player stats that shaped both results. It skips recycled season averages and fantasy noise. You get snap-level production, a direct head-to-head comparison, and the newest numbers from the current season, so you can see why the NFC South rivalry tilted toward New Orleans and where it could swing next.
Read on. The stat lines are more surprising than the highlight reels.
Why the Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats Matter Beyond the Scoreboard
The two clubs met twice in the 2025 regular season: first in Week 10 at Bank of America Stadium, then in Week 15 at the Caesars Superdome. The venues changed and the circumstances changed, but the chaos stayed constant.
Carolina walked into the first game as a 5.5-point home favorite. New Orleans arrived at 2-8 and had just turned its offense over to a rookie passer. Yet the Saints left with a 17-7 win that looked baffling on paper and obvious once the passing numbers came out.
Five weeks later, the Panthers traveled south at 7-6 with a chance to strengthen their hold on the division. They flew home with a 20-17 loss after Chris Olave scored with 2:33 left in the fourth quarter. New Orleans had trailed 10-7 at halftime, then outscored Carolina 13-0 after the break.
Two games, two Saints wins, and a set of individual stat lines that explain precisely how both unfolded.
Week 10: Tyler Shough’s Coming-Out Party
Shough Carved Up the Panthers in His First Real Start
Tyler Shough finished 19-of-27 for 282 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. His 128.9 passer rating looks like a misprint until you look at how he got there.
He averaged 10.4 yards per attempt, which is not checkdown football. Shough pushed the ball vertically against a Carolina defense that kept reading the wrong coverage.
Chris Olave grabbed five passes for 104 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown. Juwan Johnson answered with four catches for 92 yards and a 52-yard score. Two receivers produced two explosive plays, and the Panthers secondary never recovered.
Bryce Young Could Not Match the Pace
Bryce Young went 17-of-25 for just 124 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. His rating landed at 62.8, and the Panthers gained only 175 total yards.
The ground game offered no relief. Carolina carried 23 times for 73 yards and one score, a 3.2-yard average against a Saints front that had been run over for most of the year.
| Week 10 Player Stats | Team | Comp/Att | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Shough | NO | 19/27 | 282 | 2 | 0 | 128.9 |
| Bryce Young | CAR | 17/25 | 124 | 0 | 1 | 62.8 |
| Chris Olave | NO | 5 rec | 104 | 1 | — | — |
| Juwan Johnson | NO | 4 rec | 92 | 1 | — | — |
A ten-point margin undersells it. The passing numbers suggest New Orleans could have won by more.
Week 15: The Rematch Became a Different Kind of Shootout
Young Changed the Script With His Legs
Bryce Young threw for 163 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-24 passing, lifting his rating to 96.4. His feet told the bigger story.
Young carried seven times for 49 yards, a season high, and picked up three first downs on explosive scrambles. On throws that traveled more than ten air yards, he completed 5 of 8 for 126 yards, capped by a 32-yard touchdown to Jalen Coker.
This was the quarterback Carolina had been hoping to see: someone who stretches a broken play, hurts defenses that lose discipline, and refuses to settle for game-manager duty.
Shough Stayed Sharp Under Pressure
Shough answered with 24-of-32 passing for 272 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions, good for a 110.4 rating. He also ran eight times for 32 yards.
Carolina sacked him five times, and it barely mattered. Shough kept finding first downs, kept the offense on schedule, and kept a road-weary Saints team alive in a game they were not supposed to steal.
| Week 15 Player Stats | Team | Comp/Att | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Shough | NO | 24/32 | 272 | 1 | 0 | 110.4 |
| Bryce Young | CAR | 15/24 | 163 | 1 | 0 | 96.4 |
| Jalen Coker | CAR | 4 rec | 60 | 1 | — | — |
| Chris Olave | NO | — | — | 1 | — | — |
Across both starts against Carolina, Shough totaled 554 passing yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. That pattern is too consistent to call luck.
Season-Long Numbers Behind the Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats
One-game stat lines grab attention. Season totals explain why those lines happened.
Bryce Young’s 2025 Season Was a Quiet Leap
Young started 16 games and posted 3,011 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and an 87.8 rating. He completed 63.6 percent of his passes at 6.3 yards per attempt.
Nobody will mistake those figures for an MVP résumé, but they describe a quarterback who is winning games. Young trimmed the drive-killing mistakes and added enough off-schedule production to keep Carolina in contention late. His Week 15 rushing output was a preview of how he intends to pressure defenses going forward.
Tyler Shough Gave the Saints an Offense That Worked
Shough appeared in 11 games, throwing for 2,384 yards, ten touchdowns, and six interceptions with a 91.3 rating. He connected on 67.6 percent of his attempts at 7.3 yards per attempt.
The Saints still averaged only 18.0 points per game, 28th in the NFL, and finished 6-11. Within that disappointing year, Shough’s efficiency against Carolina stood out as a genuine positive.
The Skill-Position Gap Was Narrower Than the Results Suggest
Rico Dowdle led Carolina with 1,076 rushing yards, and Chuba Hubbard added 511. Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette flashed through the air but rarely forced defenses to roll coverage their way.
Olave was New Orleans’ clear top target with 1,163 receiving yards. Alvin Kamara battled injuries and still ran for 377 yards in nine games.
Talent at the top of each roster looked closer than the scores did. Quarterback play in these two games is what separated them.
Head-to-Head Comparison: Bryce Young vs Tyler Shough
Reading the stat lines next to each other makes the gap easier to see.
Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats: Quarterback Head-to-Head
| Category (2025 meetings combined) | Bryce Young (CAR) | Tyler Shough (NO) | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passing yards | 287 | 554 | Shough |
| Completions/attempts | 32/49 | 43/59 | Shough |
| Completion rate | 65.3% | 72.9% | Shough |
| Touchdown passes | 1 | 3 | Shough |
| Interceptions | 1 | 0 | Shough |
| Yards per attempt | 5.9 | 9.4 | Shough |
| Best single-game rating | 96.4 | 128.9 | Shough |
| Rushing | 7 carries, 49 yds (Wk 15 only) | 8 carries, 32 yds (Wk 15 only) | Young |
Shough won nearly every passing category, and the efficiency margin was wide. Young’s one clear advantage came as a runner in the rematch.
Season Context: Young vs Shough in 2025
| Category (full 2025 season) | Bryce Young | Tyler Shough | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | 16 starts | 11 games | Young (availability) |
| Passing yards | 3,011 | 2,384 | Young (volume) |
| Touchdowns | 23 | 10 | Young |
| Interceptions | 11 | 6 | Shough |
| Passer rating | 87.8 | 91.3 | Shough |
| Completion rate | 63.6% | 67.6% | Shough |
| Yards per attempt | 6.3 | 7.3 | Shough |
Young produced more because he played more and scored more. Shough was the more efficient passer on a per-throw basis.
Team Head-to-Head: Panthers vs Saints
| Rivalry Snapshot | Panthers | Saints |
|---|---|---|
| All-time series | 29 wins | 34 wins (includes one postseason game) |
| 2025 meetings | 0-2 | 2-0 |
| 2025 final records | 8-9 (NFC South champions) | 6-11 |
| Largest series win | 45-13 (1999) | 47-10 (2024) |
| Recent trend | Lost five of the last seven | Won five of the last seven |
New Orleans owns the series history and the recent trend. Carolina owns the more successful 2025 season, which is exactly why the two sweeps felt so out of step with the standings.
Defensive Stats That Decided Both Games
Week 10: The Saints Secondary Controlled the Game
D. Davis topped New Orleans with seven tackles and a pass defensed, while K. McKinstry added six stops. A. Taylor intercepted Young and broke up another throw. The Saints held Carolina to 102 net passing yards and 3-of-9 on third down.
That is how a team wins while scoring 17 points: make the opposing quarterback uncomfortable on every snap.
Week 15: The Panthers Front Seven Arrived Late
D.J. Wonnum collected two sacks, with Trevis Gipson and Christian Rozeboom adding one apiece. Jaycee Horn posted a season-high seven tackles and two pass breakups, and Nick Scott led the team with ten tackles.
It still fell short. Olave’s 12-yard touchdown with 2:33 remaining was the knockout blow. Carolina pressured Shough all afternoon but never sacked the moment that mattered.
Latest Updates: Panthers vs Saints Player Stats in the Current Season
The 2026 season is now seven weeks old, and both quarterbacks look different from the versions in the 2025 meetings. Here is where things stand after Week 7.
Bryce Young: Strong Start, Ugly Week 7
Young opened the season with some of the best production of his career. Through six games he had piled up 1,712 passing yards, which ranks behind only Cam Newton’s 2011 total for the most by a Panthers quarterback over a first-six-game stretch. He had also thrown a touchdown pass in eight straight games, playoffs included.
Then came Tampa Bay. In a 43-13 home loss, Young completed 14 of 27 passes for a season-low 163 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, and he lost a fumble on a strip-sack that the Buccaneers returned for a score. He went down five times and faced pressure on roughly two-thirds of his dropbacks. His longest highlight was a 50-yard touchdown to tight end Darren Waller. Carolina sits at 3-3 and plays at Green Bay on Thursday night in Week 8.
Two details matter for the rivalry. First, the Panthers’ protection is the weak link, and the Saints’ young defensive line is built to attack exactly that. Second, Young’s passing attempts rank among the league’s highest, so he is carrying a heavy load with receivers like Tetairoa McMillan and Coker.
Tyler Shough: Heavy Volume, Limited Reward
Shough has the opposite problem. After a 16-10 loss to Pittsburgh in the first NFL regular-season game in Paris, New Orleans is 2-5 and heading into its bye. Shough completed 30 of 38 passes for 278 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, and he added seven rushing yards, which led the team.
His season line through seven games sits at 1,721 passing yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions, averaging about 39 attempts per game. That workload is the fourth highest in the league. The cause is a ground game that has nearly vanished: the Saints ran 17 times for just 18 yards in Paris, their lowest rushing total in a game since 1999.
Olave caught six passes for 56 yards on ten targets, Kamara added seven receptions for 57 yards, and Devaughn Vele scored. The talent exists, but the offense is leaning on Shough’s arm almost entirely.
Updated Schedule for the Two 2026 Meetings
The rivalry’s next two chapters are locked in.
| Game | Date | Venue | Kickoff | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 10: Panthers at Saints | Nov. 15 | Caesars Superdome | 1:00 p.m. ET | FOX |
| Week 14: Saints at Panthers | Dec. 13 | Bank of America Stadium | 1:00 p.m. ET | CBS |
The Saints still lead the all-time series 34-29, and 22 of the 63 meetings have been decided by eight points or fewer. Treat any lopsided prediction with suspicion.
What the Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats Say About the 2026 Rematches
Shough has already shown he can handle pressure, protect the football, and make the specific throws this Carolina defense struggles to stop. If he is on the field for both games, the Panthers have a real matchup problem. The counterweight is that his offense is one-dimensional right now, and one-dimensional offenses are easier to disrupt.
Young gave Carolina a template in Week 15 by winning with his arm and his legs once the pocket broke down. The Saints have to find a way to contain that, especially with a defense that has also allowed big plays in the run game this year. At the same time, Young’s Week 7 collapse shows what happens when his protection fails.
The takeaway is simple. The next two games will not be settled by season averages. They will be settled by which team fixes its weak spot first: Carolina’s pass protection or New Orleans’ ground game.
The Bottom Line: Carolina Panthers vs New Orleans Saints Match Player Stats
The 2025 numbers tell a story the scores only hint at. Shough outplayed Young in the opener. Young closed much of the gap in the rematch. New Orleans still won both times.
If you are building a preview, setting a fantasy lineup, or trying to understand why the NFC South keeps delivering surprises, begin with the quarterbacks. Shough’s zero interceptions across two starts against Carolina is the number that should worry Panthers coaches. Young’s 49 rushing yards in Week 15, along with his fast start this season, is the number that should give them confidence.
