For those of you who suffered through all four quarters of the Carolina Panthers boringly disappointing 27-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills, you got a sneak preview of what this team is going to look like if Cam Newton has to miss any significant time this year. Kyle Allen and Will Grier, the top contenders to back up Newton this year, completed 14 of their 30 combined passing attempts for a grand total of 107 yards. Grier had the lone interception of the game.
It’s possible their performances were colored by the relatively flat affect demonstrated by the entire team. Team announcers Mick Mixon and Mike Rucker did their best to attribute that to the emotions of breaking camp and making the grueling 72-mile, air conditioned drive from Spartanburg, South Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina. Whatever the reason, the team wasn’t great over all and that did nothing to elevate the performances of these two back up quarterbacks.
Technically, Taylor Heinicke took snaps at quarterback. He also technically didn’t take any of those snaps until the third quarter of a preseason game. Short of throwing ten passes for 800 yards and ten touchdowns, which he did not, I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in a quarterback who sees the field in that situation.