PJ Walker will start Thursday night against the Atlanta Falcons, Panthers coach Steve Wilks said on Monday.
The decision comes less than 24 hours after Walker was benched in Sunday’s 42-21 blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
“PJ will be the starting quarterback this week. We’ll move forward with this particular game. And we’ll see exactly how things go from there,” Wilks said. “I just felt like in short, giving him the opportunity to go back the game plan we’re gonna put together and what he did against them before. Hopefully, we can get a spark on offense.”
Walker was benched in the second half for Baker Mayfield after posting a 0.0 quarterback rating on 3-of-10 passing for just nine yards. He is only the second quarterback in franchise history to post a quarterback rating of zero.
Wilks said Mayfield will once again back up Walker. Mayfield threw two second-half touchdowns against the Bengals backups and completed 70% of his passes for 155 yards.
“PJ wasn’t the only one who played bad on Thursday,” Wilks said. “So we’re gonna rally behind PJ and definitely give him the things that he needs from a game plan standpoint.”
Just eight days ago Walker posted a career-high 317 yards against the Falcons in a 37-34 overtime loss.
Despite the team activating quarterback Sam Darnold from injured reserve on Monday, Wilks’ decision was between Walker and Mayfield. Darnold will practice this week, but Wilks said it is unlikely Darnold will dress for the game.
Darnold suffered a high ankle sprain during the preseason finale in August. He had his 21-day practice window activated on Oct. 19 and has been working with the quarterbacks at practice ever since.
The team also fired defensive backs coach Evan Cooper and defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni on Monday. Wilks said it was time for a change in both position rooms.
“Over a period of time I’ve been evaluating everyone, players and coaches, so it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction from yesterday,” Wilks said. “I just felt like that, that position those positions needed to change.”
Carolina practiced Monday, and will practice Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s game. Wilks said he is hopeful safety Jeremy Chinn will play this week. Chinn has been on injured reserve since Week 4. The team has not opened his 21-day practice window yet.
