Running the ball did become presumably more difficult this week, thanks to the offensive line changes. It should be noted, though, this is the line that was on the field in that Week 18 win, the Panthers rushed for 155 yards and three touchdowns.
“There was some good chemistry in there in the run game and the protections,” Canales said of that Week 18 performance on the offensive line last season, before looking back to this week. “I was really pleased with their week of work and feel very confident about Cade and Chandler getting out there, playing for us.”
If the running game can start with more of a footing, we should see a better example of how the Panthers want to split reps between Hubbard and Dowdle. Thus far, Hubbard has been on the field for 106 snaps with 34 touches, and Dowdle has played 47 snaps with 12 touches. Dowdle has primarily been a third-down back on drives Hubbard starts, and vice versa with Hubbard coming in on drives Dowdle has started.
Both know more is on the horizon, perhaps Sunday, with a faster start.
“We hurt ourselves early (previously), so it’s kind of been pretty unbalanced,” noted Dowdle. “We’ve been in passing situations, getting behind early, but to answer your question, I think, obviously we got good backs back there in the backfield and great O-line, so I think we can—once it’s a balanced game we’ll be able to run the ball definitely, think we can be very effective and keep the game in our favor.”