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Carolina Panthers: Injuries Seem to the Doom the Season

By John Woodcock

Sep 8, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil (67) reacts as he leaves the field following the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos defeated the Panthers 21-20. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 8, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil (67) reacts as he leaves the field following the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Broncos defeated the Panthers 21-20. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Carolina Panthers have placed two centers on IR in a year where offensive line woes have come to be the norm.

The news just doesn’t get any better for the Carolina Panthers. Their last drive loss to the Oakland Raiders was followed by the news that three of their linemen would be out for next week. Ryan Kalil and his backup Gino Gradkowski are done for the year and have been placed on injured reserve. Daryl Williams, the backup tackle, is also out. Michael Oher was already on injured reserve.

To replace the missing guys, the Panthers have signed guard/center Ryan Wendell and tackle Dan France. Wendell is a seven year veteran who played with the Patriots before getting injured in 2015. France is a second year man out of Michigan State and represents the bigger unknown of the two.

The offensive line stability is now at its limits. Trai Turner and Mike Remmers are playing out of position with newcomers Tyler Larsen and Charles Scott plugging in holes at guard and center. Only Andrew Norwell remains in his current position. It will be interesting to see if the Panthers continue to use that Raiders game line or reshuffle to get Turner back to his right guard position. There is still a chance that Williams could return as well.

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This Panthers season is starting to look a lot like the 2004-5 Panthers season. A year removed from the Super Bowl, the Panthers fell to a 7-9 record largely due to injuries. The biggest one was to Steve Smith in the season opener. That would be similar to the Luke Kuechly injury assuming Luke is out for an extended period of time.

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The Panthers also had trouble in 2014 with the offensive line. With a similar 3-8-1 (vs 4-7 this year) record, the Panthers managed to go on a playoff run despite their line issues. The only problem with replicating that feat from here on out is that the division cooperated with the Panthers and also had down years around them. Atlanta has not shown signs of folding like that yet.

To make matters worse the Panthers play Seattle next. The Seahawks lost twice to the Panthers last year and felt they should have won both games. They will not bring their C game to the affair.

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