Kyle Allen will be back in the stadium where he made his first NFL start when the Panthers face the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday and the Panthers would welcome the kind of performance he turned in during that first visit.
Allen was 16-of-27 for 228 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers beat the Saints and kicked off a run of five wins in his first five starts as an NFL quarterback. Things have gone the other way for Allen recently.
The Panthers have lost three of their last four games and Allen has thrown nine interceptions over that stretch. Four of those interceptions came in last Sunday’s loss, but the Panthers aren’t thinking about going to rookie Will Grier.
Quarterbacks coach Scott Turner explained part of the reason for that decision this week by saying that the only way Allen will improve is by going through a rough patch like this one.
“With any young player, he came in, he had some success early,” Turner said, via the team’s website. “But you have to think about him really like a rookie. If you compare him to some of the other guys that are put in the same situation, that’s the only way you’re going to get better, to learn from your mistakes.”
The faster Allen starts learning to avoid those mistakes, the better for the Panthers because a loss this weekend will make it hard to see a path to the postseason for Carolina.