Carolina Panthers rule Cam Newton out for Sunday’s game at Texans; Kyle Allen to start

Update: Ron Rivera says there is ‘no timetable’ for Cam Newton’s return.

The Carolina Panthers have announced that quarterback Cam Newton will not play on Sunday against the Houston Texans and backup quarterback Kyle Allen will start in his place for the second straight week.

As I discussed in today’s stock up, stock down column, this is probably the best course of action for the Panthers to take. Something is clearly wrong with Cam’s foot, and the best thing they can do is give him a few weeks off to fully recover before putting him back out there and risking further injury.

Allen played well against the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, and while it’s not likely that he’ll play as well against a better defense this week, we’ll at least get to see what he can do against an opponent who has more film on him and more time to prepare to face him. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep the team afloat for a few weeks and give Cam the needed time to heal up and be ready for a playoff run over the last 10-12 weeks of the season, or in the absolute worst case scenario prevent this season from being a complete disaster that’s not enjoyable to watch.

Ron Rivera is expected to speak to the media shortly, so stay tuned as this story will likely be updated throughout the day.