Fourth-year back gets bell cow usage and adds to impressive rushing season
Chuba Hubbard owned the Panthers’ backfield Sunday with Miles Sanders (knee/foot) playing only six snaps and Jonathon Brooks a healthy scratch. Hubbard ran the ball 28 times for 153 yards and a score versus the Giants in Munich. He is now No. 3 in the NFL with 818 rushing yards, trailing only Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley. With Sanders banged up and Brooks ramping up slowly, Hubbard is getting bell cow usage and careening toward league winner status.
With the Panthers leaning into the run game and not much resistance from the Giants on the other side of the ball, Bryce Young threw only 25 passes, his lowest pass attempt total on the season. Young is a last resort QB start. He does not add much on the ground, although he did add 30 yards on the ground Sunday on two rush attempts.
In a low volume passing attack, Jalen Coker was the target leader with eight, catching just three for 41 yards. Xavier Legette caught three of his four targets for 40 yards and Ja’Tavion Sanders had the lone receiving touchdown on one of his two targets. Sanders caught his other target, but went down on the one-yard line. Otherwise, he would have had a two-catch, two-touchdown day.
– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb
Bryce Young Named Starter As Panthers Put Young Weapons to the Test
The Panthers match up against division rival Saints in Week 9. It will be a battle of basement dwellers in the NFC South. The Panthers have struggled with consistency at QB. Bryce Young will be the Panthers’ starting QB for Week 9 while Andy Dalton continues to recover from a thumb injury.
Young went 24-for-37 passing in Week 8 versus a tough Broncos’ secondary. The second-year QB accounted for the Panthers’ two TDs passing, just the third time in his career throwing for multiple TDs in a game. The recipients of those touchdown passes were Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker. They will be the likely target leaders rest of season as they were in Week 8 (Legette 7, Coker 6). Don’t sleep on David Moore in deeper leagues. Moore quietly ran the most routes on the team and was the recipient of five targets. Temper expectations for the Carolina passing offense, however. Young has only thrown for more than 300 yards once in his career as starter.
Another storyline to watch is in the Panthers’ backfield. Jonathon Brooks is slated to make his debut soon as he comes off the ACL tear he suffered late in his final college season at Texas. The second round rookie is unlikely to be activated for Week 9, however, so Chuba Hubbard will continue to lead the Panthers backfield. Hubbard has been serviceable on decent volume. He is No. 9 with 111.6 Weighted Opportunities and No. 5 with 593 rush yards on the season. He has four rushing TDs, and faces a Saints D that ranks in the bottom quarter of the league stopping the run.
– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb
