Dave Canales and the Panthers are heading to Las Vegas gambling that Andy Dalton can spark a 180-degree turnaround.
It’s really not much of a gamble, though. Dalton, who makes his 164th career start on Sunday against the Raiders (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS), has won 83 games. Among active players, he ranks seventh with 38,511 passing yards. He even has a hype video, courtesy of the team.
Canales said Wednesday that Dalton not only gives Carolina its best chance to win but he’ll also help the Panthers push the ball downfield, something they couldn’t do with Bryce Young last week.
“We’ve got to get aggressive,” said Canales. “We had 49 plays on the day; I really wanted to establish the run. We did that and if we could have converted more third downs, we would have had more opportunities to run the ball, to throw the action. So that’s something that I have to improve and make sure that we get those shots down the field because we have some talent out there at our skill positions.”
That talent out there consists of Diontae Johnson, who topped 1,000 yards just three years ago in Pittsburgh, two-time Pro Bowler Adam Thielen, second-year speedster Jonathan Mingo and first-round selection Xavier Legette. Running back Chuba Hubbard is averaging 4.9 yards per carry behind an offensive line that has played well after the Panthers improved it during the offseason.
Stranger things have happened in the NFL than Dalton leading the Panthers to a surprise road win at Allegiant Stadium.
Just don’t expect reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week Maxx Crosby and the Raiders to make it easy.