Panthers head coach Matt Rhule pulled quarterback Cam Newton twice during Sunday’s 29-21 loss to the Falcons, but he isn’t considering a permanent change at the position.
Rhule told reporters after the game that Newton will remain the team’s starter when they head to Buffalo in Week 15. Rhule said that the team went with P.J. Walker in the second and fourth quarters because he has a better grasp of the team’s two-minute offense and they were down multiple scores at the time of both changes.
That was similar to what Rhule said when he pulled Newton in the team’s Week 12 loss to the Dolphins and it underscores the difficulty that comes with signing a quarterback off the street in the middle of the season.
Whatever the issues with the playbook, Newton had two turnovers in each of those losses and Walker added an interception on Sunday. Rhule said the team can’t have those kind of “catastrophic” errors from the quarterback position, but it’s been a constant for them regardless of who is under center and there’s little reason to think that’s going to change over the final four weeks of the season.