The Carolina Panthers couldn’t even make it to kickoff against the Buffalo Bills before injury struck.
Kicker Zane Gonzalez was helped off the field during warmups with a quad injury and has been ruled out Sunday.
Gonzalez was taken to the locker room by long snapper J.J. Jansen and members of the team’s training staff.
In 12 games with the Panthers this season, Gonzalez has connected on 20 of 22 field goal attempts with a long of 57 yards and made 22 of 23 extra points.
After Gonzalez went down, punter Lachlan Edwards practiced kickoffs. With no other kicker on the roster, the Panthers could be forced to go for two points following any touchdowns. And we could see a lot more fourth-down tries for the 5-8 Panthers.
ORRRRRRRR another fun option pointed out by Joe Person of The Athletic: Quarterback P.J. Walker kicked in high school, and the Panthers had him take some kicks at practice last season. Oh, please let P.J. Walker attempt a couple of kicks Sunday.
The Panthers had wide receiver Brandon Zylstra, running back Reggie Bonnafon and linebacker Frankie Luvu attempting kickoffs in warm-ups.