The Panthers trail the Bills 24-6 at halftime of their second preseason game of the year. The thing is, the game has been even more ugly than that score might suggest.
Kyle Allen started at quarterback and he was straight up awful, for lack of a better word. Watch this.
The first-string offensive line certainly didn’t do him any favors, but Allen looked off balance the entire time he was on the field. He left the game 4/11 for 32 yards, no touchdowns and has a 44.9 passer rating.
After Jared Norris forced a fumble and gave Carolina good starting field position, Will Grier came in but somehow managed to do even worse. Just like last week against the Bears, Grier stared down another one of his receivers. The throw was also very late and it resulted in a pick-six.
Grier almost threw another ugly pick not long after. At the half, he is 8/14 for 64 yards and a 39.0 passer rating. In Allen and Grier’s defense, offensive coordinator Norv Turner is obviously not using very much of his playbook so their options are pretty limited.
That said, yikes.
The defense is also clearly missing inside linebackers Luke Kuechly and Shaq Thompson. Andre Smith had a rough first half in their stead. He missed a tackle on LeSean McCoy and got toasted for a big gain in coverage.
On the bright side, the starting defensive line looked decent on the opening drive. Mario Addison, Bruce Irvin and Kawann Short all had key stops that helped limit a promising drive for the Bills to three points.
Carolina gets the ball to begin the third quarter, if you’re into that kind of thing.
