The Carolina Panthers’ final preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Friday will feature coaches with differing ideas as to whether to play or rest their starters.
For the Panthers, the starters mostly didn’t play at all in the Week 2 exhibition against New England and so many of them will play at least through the first quarter in the 7 p.m. game. For the Bills, the starters will rest, which means Buffalo won’t play star quarterback Josh Allen.
Carolina will begin with newly named No. 1 quarterback Baker Mayfield playing with the starting offensive line and receivers for about a quarter (almost surely minus Christian McCaffrey, who never plays in the preseason anymore). Then Sam Darnold will take over in the second quarter, followed by PJ Walker for most of the second half.
Buffalo, coached by former Carolina defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, will start Case Keenum at quarterback but likely use third-stringer Matt Barkley for the majority of the game.
The Panthers are 1-1 during the preseason, while Buffalo is 2-0. After Friday night, Carolina will go 16 days between games before opening the 17-game regular season on Sept. 11 at home in Charlotte facing the Cleveland Browns, Mayfield’s old team.
Other Panther notes
— Linebacker Shaq Thompson has been gradually increasing his workload after offseason knee surgery and hopes to be ready for Week 1, although he said there has been some rust involved. Thompson said he played through a lot of pain last season, including a “bone-on-bone” issue.
— Safety Xavier Woods, who has been lauded for much of training camp for bringing some veteran stability to the defensive backfield, had what would have been a pick-6 interception on Baker Mayfield in practice.
— Wide receiver Shi Smith, the South Carolina product who coach Matt Rhule has called one of the bright spots of August, said he and former Panther great Steve Smith have gotten together to talk about life and football, and that the elder Smith had told Shi Smith to try to catch the ball with his hands more. Shi Smith would not comment on the pending gun and drug charges stemming from his March arrest, saying it was an ongoing legal situation.
