Never ask a coach if he’s ready to make a decision five minutes after the game. You’ll always get the same answer.
Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule gave that answer, which was very much a non-answer, when posed with questions about the most heated position battles on his roster. But, obviously, he and his staff are not ready to determine who kicks and who backs up quarterback Sam Darnold just yet.
“I’m not sure of the timetable, and that’s honestly,” Rhule said when asked if he knows when he’ll make a determination on the kicker spot. “We brought Ryan [Santoso] in knowing that ‘Hey, we have a couple days until the cuts’ to make a decision about him. I’ll go with Scott [Fitterer] probably tomorrow morning, we’ll see where we are at every position and take the next couple days to be thorough in our decisions.”
He did, though, offer some insight into competition between Santoso and Joey Slye.
“We went into it with ‘Hey, we’re gonna let Ryan kick off and kick the first one,’ let Joey, depending on where it was, kick the second one and then let Ryan kick the most of the night,” Rhule said about his strategy. “I wanted to see at least each of them kick once.”
Santoso and Slye kicked more than once, actually, with the new guy besting the incumbent. The former nailed each of his five kicks, with two field goals of 52 and 27 yards, while the latter went 1-for-2 total with a missed 49-yarder.
Rhule also commented on the backup quarterback race between P.J. Walker and Will Grier. Like the kicker fight, he’s not prepared to announce a choice. He is, though, content with the results from their respective outings.
“I thought P.J. was really good when he was in there. He made the big throw to Tommy [Tremble], he made the big throw on the sideline to David [Moore], made the over route to Shi [Smith]. I think he put a lot of balls in guys’ hands.”
He then shifted to Grier.
“I thought Will was excellent as well. Will made some plays with his feet. I’m really happy to see that from Will. He went out and had a lot of the guys who were 2’s and 3’s with him and still found a way to move the team. And, at the end of the day, that’s what it’s about. Moving the team.”
Walker bounced back from a rough showing against the Baltimore Ravens last Saturday, completing five of his 10 throws for 83 yards. Grier was solid as well, completing five of his seven attempts for 47 yards and rushing in a slick 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
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