Injury depleted defense still looking to uphold “the standard”
The Panthers defense, already without some of the pillars around which they had built, was forced to finish Sunday’s game without two starters. Both inside linebackers, Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell, exited the 34-24 loss against the Bengals on the same drive.
“I was asking around after the game like what was wrong with him,” cornerback Jaycee Horn said of Thompson. “I probably circle back with him tonight and make sure he good. But I definitely, you know, hate to see him going down.
“Just me being in that position so many times and, you know, knowing what he went through last year, how he fought to come back and knowing his goals for this year also, it was, it was tough when I seen him go down, but hopefully he’ll be all right.”
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The Panthers don’t know yet if Thompson, who left with an ankle injury on the last play of the third quarter, will “be all right,” and won’t know more until Monday.
“We’re evaluating Shaq right now. There’s something in his lower leg,” Canales shared after the loss. “It’s really, we don’t know until we get the MRI and get that information, but it was enough that he couldn’t finish.”
After Jewell exited five plays later with groin and a hamstring injuries, the Panthers defense played their final two-and-a-half drives with a front seven that was missing—at that point—Thompson, Jewell, Derrick Brown (out for the season), and Shy Tuttle (out with a foot injury).
“Somebody goes down, that don’t mean you throwing in a towel,” Horn preached. “Like I always been saying, since OTAs, it’s a standard. It’s a standard no matter who in there. And like I said, we paid to play football, so somebody go down, that should make you want to go harder for your brother.”
When Thompson, and subsequently Jewell, left on the same drive, rookie Trevin Wallace and second-year linebacker Claudin Cherelus were thrown right into action. Wallace called plays, as he did during OTAs, and teammates joked afterward his South Georgia accent still slipped through at times, but his ability to make the defensive calls has gotten much better.
“He did a great job just getting things organized and communicated,” Canales said of Wallace. “And
so really, just for me again, it’s like the next guy up and the opportunity that provides for us to evaluate our players and to put them out there to see what we have.”
Added DeShawn Williams: “He did good. He’s an athletic linebacker. He didn’t show like he was a rookie today, so I know he has a bright future. He got thrown into the fire kind of quick and things like that.
“But him, Cherelus, they picked up the slack when Josey and Shaq went down. But that’s the league, though.”
