Kyle Allen made his debut for the Panthers in New Orleans in Week 17 of last season. It was a meaningless game in the grand scheme of things. Carolina was already eliminated from playoff contention, and the Saints didn’t bother putting either Drew Brees or Alvin Kamara on the field with the No. 1 seed already locked up.
The Panthers had nothing to lose and played like it, led by Allen’s fearless performance. He looked confident for a rookie making his first start and threw two touchdown passes in a 33-14 win that represented the definition of a moral victory.
In football years, that was almost an eternity ago. Allen has played half a season since then, and we now know a whole lot more about him than we did at the end of that game.
Allen is a strong backup quarterback who doesn’t get rattled easily and will compete until the final second. He occasionally makes brilliant throws into tight windows and frequently keeps plays alive with his legs.
However, Allen has also been inconsistent and has committed a lot of turnovers (seven fumbles, nine interceptions). Worse, his decision-making has rapidly declined over the last few weeks, beginning with an inexcusable performance against the 49ers in a 38-point loss.
This was never meant to be Allen’s team, and backups aren’t supposed to play a full season. He has responded as best as one could hope for from a QB2 in a tough situation. A backup is precisely what Allen is, though. Pretending he’s something else serves no point.
On Sunday, the Panthers will return to New Orleans for the first time since Allen’s debut. If he begins to flounder like he did against San Francisco or Atlanta, then coach Ron Rivera needs to consider making a change.
We already know what Allen is and isn’t. What we don’t know is what the Panthers have in third-round pick Will Grier. While it’s true that he bombed during the preseason, he has had a couple of months of practice to get up to speed since then.
Grier may turn out to be even worse than Allen has over the last month. In fact, if his processing speed hasn’t significantly improved since August, that’s a distinct possibility. That said, finding out where Grier’s ceiling and basement are in a real game is worth more to this franchise than trying to eke out pointless victories in a playoff race they can’t win.
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