Panthers slip up and let the team’s quarterback decision leak, throwing away any gamesmanship going into the weekend
The Carolina Panthers will be riding with Andy Dalton as the starter on Sunday.
The decision is all but official for the Carolina Panthers regarding the starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
Last week, quarterback Bryce Young suffered a right ankle injury and the team has been uncertain about his status for Week 8. That uncertainty continued on Friday when the team officially listed Young as doubtful going into the weekend.
“He’s made progress every day,” head coach Dave Canales said on Friday of Young. “We want to just keep our options right now. Didn’t want to rule him out. Just wanted to say okay he woke up today, feels better than he did yesterday, so tomorrow we’ll move him around.”
After getting a good look at Young on Saturday, the team will make a final decision on his status. But, not long after Canales met with the media, a team spokesperson threw out all gamesmanship.
Panthers give the final answer on who will start at QB for the Panthers in Week 8
“A Panthers spokesperson just clarified that Andy Dalton will start vs. the Bills regardless of whether Bryce Young is active or not,” Joe Person of The Athletic posted on X.
This was an interesting little tie in for the Panthers. The likely outcome is that Dalton starts for the team on Sunday and Young is listed as the inactive but as a the designated third quarterback. As for Dalton’s backup, Canales confirmed the team plans to elevate Hendon Hooker from the practice squad over recently signed veteran Mike White.
Based on Young’s practice availability, or lack there of, this week, this is the best call to make for the Panthers going into this specific game. There’s no need to rush him out there without practicing on an injured ankle.
“It would be tough,” Canales added. “Bryce and I talked early in the week and said, ‘hey let’s just push this thing everyday and let’s see where we’re at.’ For my own sake, for the team’s sake, all of the guys are pulling for Bryce to be out there to play with us. Again, gotta be smart, but I think it’s wise of us to take it day-by-day and see if we can get him back out there.”
While it sounds like it, that’s not a knock on Dalton’s ability to step in and lead this offense on Sunday. Canales and the players have full confidence in the veteran to start, and it’s looking more definitive that’s going to be the case.
Carolina Panthers News
Cam Newton admits that he wasn’t a complete NFL quarterback until one former Panthers teammate transformed his mindset entirely
The former Carolina Panthers star quarterback had a lot of good things to say about one of his former teammates.
