Carolina Panthers

The Panthers have a bye in Week 5 and that will give a couple of their injured players a little more time to heal before they are back on the field.

Head coach Dave Canales said at a Monday press conference that they are “hopeful” linebacker Jaelan Phillips and right tackle Monroe Freeling will be able to return for their Week 6 game against the Eagles. Phillips injured his hamstring in Sunday night’s win over the Lions while Freeling injured his knee.

Phillips had one tackle before leaving on Sunday and he has eight tackles and two sacks on the year. Freeling has started all four games this year.

Canales also said that the team expects running back Trevor Etienne (ankle) to return from injured reserve after the bye. Offensive tackle Taylor Moton (blood clots) and defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton (neck) are waiting for medical clearance to return while offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu (knee) is not close to a return at this point.

Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan’s first Sunday night game was one to remember.

Everyone knew that the Panthers would be looking McMillan’s way often as they were missing two other wideouts for their game against the Lions, but that didn’t stop McMillan from posting 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina’s 32-26 win. While those numbers were just short of franchise records, they were personal bests from the 2025 offensive rookie of the year.

After the game, McMillan searched for reasons to explain why he, quarterback Bryce Young and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik were in such a groove.

“I mean, who knows, maybe just the atmosphere, the prime time moments,” McMillan said, via the team’s website. “Everything just clicked tonight. And obviously Coach [Dave] Canales just harped on it earlier, just, there’s some plays throughout the week that we may not have hit on, but shoot, Brad called it tonight, and Bryce trusted it, and he made good throws, and we converted, so I can’t tell you what happened tonight. Maybe it’s just the Charlotte air.”

Young said he always trusts McMillan to make a play and Sunday night showed that the two players have found the kind of chemistry that can make for a long, fruitful partnership as the centerpieces of the Panthers offense.

On Sunday night, we were all living in Tetairoa McMillan’s world.

Last year’s AP offensive rookie of the year, McMillan put together the best performance of his young career in Week 4, helping the Panthers defeat the Lions 32-26.

McMillan finished the game with 14 catches for 192 yards with two touchdowns — setting single-game career highs in the first two categories.

He caught a 32-yard touchdown in the second quarter and a 10-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

But beyond that, he was quarterback Bryce Young’s go-to receiver all night, making clutch catch after clutch catch.

One of the most impressive came late in the fourth quarter, when he somehow got two feet down while extending at the sideline to convert third-and-14 with an 18-yard reception.

All this came after McMillan was held to just two receptions for 17 yards in last week’s loss to Cleveland.

Chuba Hubbard aided in Carolina’s dominance of the Detroit defense, tallying 122 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns. That works out to 6.1 yards per attempt.

Young ended the night 29-of-41 for 329 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions.

In a game that did not feature a turnover, Lions quarterback Jared Goff was 32-of-52 for 412 yards with a touchdown. But the Panthers’ defense was able to fluster Goff enough to keep the Lions off-balance, particularly in key moments. Down by 13 in the fourth quarter, the Lions had a turnover on downs with 7:04 left in the contest deep in Panthers territory.

Then when the Lions got the ball back with 2:06 left down by six, Goff was unable to move the chains for another turnover on downs to effectively end the game.

On the injury front, Panthers rookie right tackle Monroe Freeling exited with a knee injury and did not return. Panthers edge rusher Jaelan Phillips exited with a hamstring injury. Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin did not return with a hamstring injury.

Now at 2-2, the Panthers will have their bye in Week 5 before taking on the Eagles in Week 6.

The 2-2 Lions will again be on the road in Week 4 to face the Cardinals.

The Panthers punted on their first drive.

They haven’t since.

Carolina’s offense is dominating Detroit’s defense on Sunday night and the Panthers now lead 29-19 in the third quarter.

Running back Chuba Hubbard powered his way in for a 2-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play, 85-yard drive.

But on the play before, he took a carry 25 yards to set up the score.

Hubbard now has 68 yards on 14 carries with a pair of TDs. He also has one catch for 7 yards.

With 2:47 left in the third quarter, the Panthers have 23 first downs, 351 total yards, and are 4-of-7 on third down. The team is averaging 7.2 yards per play.

Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan was limited to just two catches for 17 yards in last week’s loss to Cleveland.

Apparently, he took that personally.

McMillan caught his second touchdown of the night to cap Carolina’s opening possession of the third quarter, giving the Panthers a 22-16 lead over the Lions.

After catching a 32-yard TD earlier, McMillan’s second scoring strike was for 10 yards.

But that gave him 11 catches for 162 yards on the night.

McMillan entered Week 4 with 12 catches for 193 yards with no TDs.

He’s already blown past his previous career highs in receptions (eight) and yards (130).

We’ll see what he can do for the rest of the game.

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was hot in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Lions, but Detroit was able to tie the game at 16-16 at halftime.

Jameson Williams went up to make a nice catch on a shaky deep ball from Jared Goff late in the second quarter. That allowed the Lions to hit a 41-yard field goal from Jake Bates as time expired in the period to wipe out Carolina’s three-point advantage.

Detroit had tied the game just before the two-minute warning with Jahmyr Gibbs’ 1-yard touchdown run.

But the combination of Young and receiver Tetairoa McMillan has been terrific so far on Sunday night. Young finished the first half 15-of-20 for 178 yards with a touchdown, which went to McMillan. The young wideout caught nine of his 10 targets in the first two quarters for 147 yards, including a 32-yard score.

Chuba Hubbard also had a 15-yard touchdown.

Ryan Fitzgerald missed an extra point off the right upright, leaving the one point off the board.

On the other side, Goff is 13-of-21 for 153 yards. Williams has four receptions for 74 yards. Gibbs has 11 carries for 35 yards and two carries for 9 yards.

The Panthers will receive the second-half kickoff.

After years of uncertainty as to what is and isn’t a catch, the NFL added a wrinkle that streamlines the process.

If the player gets a third foot down, it’s a catch.

The problem is that the officials now focus on the third foot as the litmus test for a catch, ignoring the other ways to complete the process of making a catch without taking a third step.

NFL officiating spokesman Walt Anderson essentially confirmed the third-step obsession after the Packers-Bears playoff game. By all appearances, that application continues — rulebook be damned.

According to Rule 8, Article 1, Section 3: “A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) in the field of play, at the sideline, or in the end zone if a player, who is inbounds: (a) secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and (b) touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and (c) after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, clearly performs any act common to the game (e.g., extend the ball forward, take an additional step, tuck the ball away and turn upfield, or avoid or ward off an opponent), or he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so.”

In the second quarter of Sunday night’s game between the Lions and Panthers, Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs made a catch, got two feet down, tucked the ball, and turned upfield. He was immediately hit, he fumbled, and Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown ran it in for a touchdown.

The ruling on the field was that Gibbs hadn’t caught the ball. It was upheld after a challenge by the Lions.

But Gibbs made the catch, tucked the ball, and turned upfield. Even without taking a third step, it was a catch, a fumble, and a Lions touchdown. (Or at least it should have been.)

It’s another example of how the officials disregard the rules by developing their own way of applying the rules. The fact that the ruling on the field was upheld on replay review shows that whoever was scrutinizing the play at 345 Park Avenue is looking only for three feet, too.

Bryce Young is hot and the Panthers are rolling.

Young connected with receiver Tetairoa McMillan for a 32-yard touchdown, pushing Carolina’s lead over Detroit to 13-6.

Ryan Fitzgerald’s extra point hit the right upright to keep the lead at seven.

Young started the game 11-of-11 before a throwaway ended his streak. It was Young’s most consecutive completions to start a game in his career.

Young converted fourth-and-4 with a pass over the middle to John Metchie to move the chains in Detroit territory. His touchdown to McMillan came a play later.

So far on Sunday, Young is 12-of-13 for 141 yards with a TD.

For the second time this season, Chuba Hubbard has reached the end zone on the ground.

Hubbard rushed for a 15-yard score late in the first quarter, giving the Panthers a 7-3 lead over the Lions.

Hubbard’s score capped an eight-play, 72-yard drive that took 4:00 off the clock.

Carolina was efficient on its way to the score, as the club did not even face a third down on the possession.

Bryce Young has started the game 7-of-7 for 68 yards.

The Lions had opened the scoring with a 54-yard field goal by Jake Bates to cap their opening drive. Through two possessions, Detroit has not converted a third down.

Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette missed last week’s loss to the Browns with a knee injury and he’ll miss several more games as well.

Legette was ruled out for Sunday night’s home game against the Lions on Friday and the Panthers placed him on injured reserve on Saturday. Legette will have to miss at least four games before he’ll be eligible to return to action.

Legette was injured during a 55-yard catch in Carolina’s Week 2 win over the Falcons. His only other catch on the season was a nine-yarder in the same game.

The Panthers also announced that they have elevated wide receiver Ja’seem Reed and cornerback Robert Rochell from the practice squad.

Reed provides depth with Legette out and Jalen Coker listed as questionable due to a quad injury. The Panthers placed both of their starting corners on injured reserve this week, which created the need to call Rochell up for Sunday night.