There’s some good news on the injury front for the Panthers with their Wednesday practice as they get ready for Saturday’s game against the Panthers.
Running back Rico Dowdle was upgraded to a full participant after he did not participate on Tuesday with a toe injury.
Head coach Dave Canales had said that Dowdle was more sore than usual coming out of Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.
Dowdle leads the Panthers with 1,066 yards rushing this season. He’s also caught 37 passes for 277 yards.
Linebacker Krys Barnes (back) also returned to practice as a full participant on Tuesday.
But cornerback Robert Rochell (concussion), linebacker Claudin Cherelus (calf/ankle), and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders (fibula) remained DNPs.
Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton (hamstring), guard Robert Hunt (biceps), and receiver David Moore (elbow) remained full.
Another year, another Week 18 game in which the winner will become the No. 1 seed and the loser will hit the road as a wild card against a team with a lesser record.
In the aftermath of last year’s battle between the 14-2 Vikings and 14-2 Lions, Detroit proposed (at the urging of the league) that the teams be seeded regardless of division championship. No more home game for the best of four bad teams who are assigned to a given division.
The proposal never made it to a vote, because it would have failed. But it’s widely believed the Commissioner wants it. And it’s widely believed he’ll keep pushing for it.
It’s also believed in some key circles that it will happen when the season expands to 18 games.
The timeline for the inevitable addition of another regular-season game isn’t known. But it’s coming, by 2031 at the latest — unless the NFL Players Association successfully staves it off.
For now, the current seeding could result in, for example, the 13-4 Seahawks visiting the 8-9 Panthers in the wild-card round. Yes, despite the five-game difference, the Seahawks would have to return to Carolina, where they won only three days ago, 27-10.
In the AFC, the Ravens (at 9-8, if they win on Sunday night) could be hosting a 12-5 team the following weekend.
Right, wrong, or otherwise, it’s moving in that direction. In time. And while it will create important questions about scheduling equity (really, why play two games against each division rival?), the easy answer is it doesn’t matter.
The man whose signature is on every football wants it. Eventually, he’ll likely get it.
If the Panthers win or tie against the Buccaneers on Saturday, Carolina wins the NFC South and hosts a playoff game next weekend. That’s not the only path to the playoffs for the Panthers, but it’s the only one head coach Dave Canales wants to think about.
Canales said he knows the NFL playoff scenarios, which also put the Panthers in the playoffs if the Falcons beat the Saints, even if the Panthers lose. Canales says he and his players are treating that scenario as irrelevant to their task this week.
“We’re aware of all those scenarios and it’s a pretty simple path. We’ve got to handle business and win the game, and that’s got to be our focus, first and foremost, against a team I really respect,” Canales said.
And if the Panthers lose?
“All the other scenarios will play out how they will,” Canales said.
There’s no scenario on which Canales wants to spend his Sunday nervously watching the Falcons play the Saints. Canales wants to spend his Sunday preparing preparation for a home playoff game, which he hopes the Panthers will earn on Saturday.
The Panthers have been the NFL’s most consistently inconsistent team this season.
A win over the Jets in Week 7 capped a three-game winning streak and lifted the team to 4-3 on the season, but the last nine games have featured no streaks in either direction. The Panthers lost to the Bills in Week 8, beat the Packers in Week 9 and they have kept alternating between losses and wins since that point.
Quarterback Bryce Young’s performances have followed a similar pattern. Young threw for 448 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 11 win over the Falcons and then threw a pair of interceptions in a loss to the 49ers the next week. He followed that up with a strong game to lead a win over the Rams and things have flip-flopped from there.
Week 17 was a down week for Young, which led to a question on Tuesday about whether he finds it easier to turn the page from a bad outing.
“You’re not going to like the answer,” Young said, via the team’s website. “But it’s really not any different. Again, good and bad come with sports, and I think that’s the maturity you have to have at this level. Coaches challenge us with it, and you really have to take it to heart, good or bad, you feel like things went well or didn’t, you have to flush it the same way. You have to have the same approach. So, I’ve been trying to do that for a while now, so, at this point, it’s the same.”
The big picture for the Panthers would look better if they could stack winning performances, but recent history says that Young and the Panthers are due for a good performance against the Buccaneers in Saturday afternoon’s battle for the NFC South so they’ll sign up for another rollercoaster ride to close out the regular season.
Though he hasn’t missed a start this season, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has been listed on the injury report with several different issues in 2025.
The Bucs have added another couple to the list.
While the club conducted a walk-through on Tuesday, Mayfield was listed as a limited participant on the estimated report with right shoulder and knee injuries.
Mayfield has been dealing with a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury since earlier in the season and has not been listed on the report with it in a couple of weeks.
At this point, it doesn’t seem likely that Mayfield is at risk of missing Saturday’s game against the Panthers, which may determine the winner of the NFC South.
Mayfield has completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 3,490 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions so far in 2025. He’s rushed for 351 yards with a TD as well.
Cornerback Jamel Dean (shoulder), cornerback Benjamin Morrison (hamstring), outside linebacker Anthony Nelson (knee), and offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs (toe) were all listed as non-participants on the estimate.
Offensive tackle Luke Goedeke (ankle) and defensive tackle Calijah Kancey (pectoral) were limited.
Tight end Devin Culp (knee) was full.
