Cat Scratch Reader
The Carolina Panthers offense only mustered 10 points against the Browns last week, but that doesn’t really matter. Bryce Young only played two series, and one of them resulted in a touchdown pass to Jalen Coker. That’s a win for the offense as they get their rhythm down throughout camp and the preseason.
They’ll probably play more against the Texans this week. With the three game preseason schedule, teams that actually play their players tend to use the second week as their heaviest week of key player usage. The Texans didn’t use many starters in their opener against the Vikings. Hopefully they’ll give them some burn this week so we can see what the Panthers offense looks like against a Texans defense that is supposed to be pretty good.
Since the result of the game doesn’t matter, we have to pick out some other interesting things to watch. Here are a few of those things.
Young found McMillan deep down the right sideline to get the ball rolling on the scoring drive. McMillan expertly tracked the ball in the air and made the over the shoulder catch with a defender bearing down. It was a kind of play that’s been very rare for the Panthers in recent seasons. The duo had a chance to cap off the drive with a touchdown, but Young delivered a pass before McMillan came out of his break, and the rookie receiver couldn’t get his hands up in time to reel it in. That rep and another week of practice should help the pair dial in their timing. Hopefully they’ll go back to that well a few times this weekend.
The Panthers have done a good job of building enough offensive line depth to withstand some injuries, and they’re getting an early test of that depth. Starting guard Damien Lewis has been out with a shoulder injury, and one of his backups Chandler Zavala has been out nursing a knee injury. The Texans have a very good pass rushing front four that can provide some stress on the front line. The interior isn’t quite as strong as the edge rushers, but it’s still a test. We’ll want to see the offensive line keep Bryce Young clean to let the offense keep up the rhythm it started last week against the Browns.
In the first week, there was a pretty clear delineation between Chuba Hubbard getting the first carries and Rico Dowdle coming in as the seconds started to come in. With Week 2 likely featuring more extended time for the starters, I want to see how the carries get split between Hubbard and Dowdle. Is this going to be a backfield by committee or is it going to still be the Chuba Hubbard show with some cameos by Dowdle?
