The Panthers are preparing to play the Cowboys without running back Christian McCaffrey, but it doesn’t sound like his absence is going to do much to impact their offensive approach.
Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said that the team will not be making major alterations to their offense with Chuba Hubbard and Royce Freeman moving into leading roles in the backfield alongside quarterback Sam Darnold.
“I think we’re just going to go out and run our offense,” Rhule said, via the team’s website. “Obviously you can’t replace the production of a Christian McCaffrey, but those other players have been waiting for their opportunity, and who knows what they’ll do when given that opportunity. So I don’t think it’s fair or right to Sam and the offensive line to go away from what we’ve been doing we’ve been working on it a long time.”
Darnold and the offense found success after McCaffrey was injured in their win over the Texans last Thursday. Rhule said he wants to “make sure we’re being as aggressive as we can as we’re putting together a game plan” for this weekend’s game, which should put Darnold front and center in their bid for a 4-0 start.