PERSONNEL NEWS

Strategy And Personnel

The Sports Xchange

October 11, 2018 at 3:02 am.

PLAYER NOTES

–TE Greg Olsen reported that he felt fine after a full workout in Wednesday’s practice. That leads to indications that he should be ready to be full go for Sunday’s game at Washington coming off a broken bone in his foot sustained in the Sept. 9 season opener.

–C Ryan Kalil exited with a shoulder injury in the game against the New York Giants. But by Wednesday, he was a regular participant in practice and shouldn’t miss game time. C Tyler Larsen was summoned to center for a key fourth-down play when Kalil exited last week.

–WR Devin Funchess had no lingering problems from what forced him out of Sunday’s game at times. He was experiencing cramping during that game.

–S Colin Jones scored his first career touchdown when he recovered a muffed punt by the New York Giants in the end zone. Jones is an eight-year NFL veteran and has mostly been a backup safety. But he has regular roles on special teams so perhaps it was appropriate that the TD came in that role.

–C Tyler Larsen was summoned to center for a key fourth-down play when C Ryan Kalil exited with a shoulder injury in the game against the Giants.

–QB Cam Newton owns the NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback for a single franchise. He reached 4,485 career rushing yards during the Giants game, passing former Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham (who had 4,482).

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: K Graham Gano. His 63-yard field goal with one second to play capped Carolina’s victory over the New York Giants. It marked a franchise record for length of field goal and tied the NFL record for second-longest field goal. For Gano, it continued a stretch of good work covering about two years. He has made 36 consecutive field-goal attempts in home games stretching to October 2016.

GAME PLAN: The Panthers have been clicking in large part on offense, and with new coordinator Norv Turner going against the Redskins he’ll being pulling out all the tops. He’s a former Redskins head coach. Certainly the Panthers saw how the Redskins were exposed with downfield passes in the New Orleans game so Carolina is bound to try to stretch the field, something that should aid the NFL-best rushing attack.

On defense, the Panthers have quite a few holes to plug. The secondary has made some big plays with interceptions, but there have been big-yardage gains against that unit. It might be time to push up the pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The secondary is still evolving with safety Eric Reid having only one game played with the Panthers.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Panthers WR Devin Funchess vs. Redskins CB Josh Norman. The Panthers are working their receivers into the mix more and more and QB Cam Newton has started to become comfortable with multiple targets. Still, the Panthers expect Funchess to be a go-to type of receiver (he was targeted a team-high seven times against the Giants). Norman is often energetic and facing his former team is bound to bring out some of the edge in him. His parting with the Panthers wasn’t smooth and he’ll want to take advantage of this stage.

–Panthers C Ryan Kalil or Tyler Larsen vs. Redskins NT Daron Payne. The Panthers could be in flux with Kalil suffering another injury (this time a shoulder) late in the game against the Giants last week. Larsen has been a solid backup and he could be called upon for extensive action for the second season in a row. Payne is just 21 years old, so the rookie out of Alabama is still figuring some things out. He has started all four games for the Redskins and recorded two sacks.