I don't think we need to spend much time figuring out who the stars were Sunday night. Bryce Young was great, Tetairoa McMillan had a monster game, and Chuba Hubbard finally got the kind of workload I've been asking for.
But those guys aren't really surprises. What stood out to me were some of the other guys Carolina had to depend on, especially with how beat up this roster is right now.
And funny enough, two of them were guys I was pretty worried about before the game.
When Damien Lewis was ruled out, Corey Bullock was one of the first guys I started thinking about. Detroit already had a defensive front I didn't love Carolina going against, and now the Panthers were doing it without their starting left guard.
It didn't exactly start great, either. Bullock got pushed back on an early sack, and I remember thinking this might become a problem pretty quickly. Then I really didn't notice him much after that, which for an offensive lineman is usually a pretty good thing.
Carolina ended up with 445 total yards, Hubbard ran for 122, and Young threw for 329. The Panthers did all of that with Bullock filling in for Lewis, and then they lost Monroe Freeling during the game, too.
Was Bullock perfect? No, and I'm not going to pretend he was. But I said before the game that if Sunday night ended and I barely noticed him, I'd probably consider that a pretty good night.
That's pretty much what happened.
I didn't exactly hide how worried I was about Will Lee III this week. I kept thinking Detroit was going to find the rookie and just keep going after him.
Can you blame me? Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson are both on injured reserve, Lee suddenly has a much bigger role, and now Jared Goff and that Detroit offense are coming to town for Sunday Night Football. That's a lot to ask from a rookie.
I'm not going to tell you Carolina's secondary shut Detroit down because it definitely didn't. Goff threw for 412 yards, and there were plenty of times when you could tell this was a secondary missing its two starting corners.
But when Carolina needed one more play to finally get out of there with a win, Lee was right in the middle of it. He and Lathan Ransom stopped Detroit short on fourth down, and that was finally it.
After I spent most of the week wondering how Lee was going to hold up, I have to give him credit. Detroit tested him, he had some rough moments, and he was still there at the end, making one of the biggest plays of the game.
Maybe I worried about him a little too much.
Oct 4, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (1) makes a catch defended by Carolina Panthers safety Lathan Ransom (22) and cornerback Akayleb Evans (29) during the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
I almost put Lee and Lathan Ransom together because of that last play. The more I thought about it, though, I think Ransom deserves his own spot.
Detroit finished with 452 yards, and Goff threw it 52 times, so again, I'm not trying to turn this into something it wasn't. Carolina didn't dominate defensively. Honestly, there were a few times when I wasn't sure the Panthers were ever going to get Detroit off the field.
But they got the stop they absolutely had to have.
That's probably what I'll remember most about Ransom from this game. Nobody is going to look at the box score Monday morning and talk about his night the way they're going to talk about McMillan's 192 yards or Hubbard finally getting over 100.
And they shouldn't. Those guys were great, but somebody still had to finish the game, and Ransom helped do it.
I think that's what I liked most about this win. Carolina's best players played like its best players, but with all the injuries, that wasn't going to be enough by itself.
The Panthers needed guys like Bullock, Lee and Ransom to hold things together. None of them were perfect Sunday night, and I don't think they needed to be.
Just don't become the reason Carolina loses the game.
Instead, all three had something to do with why the Panthers won it.
For this team right now, I'll take that every time.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/panthers/onsi as 3 Surprise Standouts for Panthers in Thrilling Win vs. Lions in Week 4 .
