The Carolina Panthers are preparing for their upcoming game against the Buffalo Bills, a matchup notable for the number of personnel with ties to both organizations. The Bills’ leadership includes several former Panthers staff members, such as general manager Brandon Beane, head coach Sean McDermott, offensive coordinator Joe Brady, and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor. Assistant coaches Al Holcomb and DJ Mangas also have connections to Carolina. Several players on the Bills roster previously played for the Panthers, including Shaq Thompson, Curtis Samuel, Sam Franklin, DaQuan Jones, and Dane Jackson.
Conversely, current Panthers general manager Dan Morgan and vice president of player health and performance Denny Kellington came from Buffalo. The Panthers also recently added practice squad quarterback Mike White and punter Sam Martin from the Bills.
Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith discussed how these connections influence game preparation: “I love it,” Smith said. “Familiarity saves me some time. You already know what’s going on. The better you know your opponent, the more you can have that information already going into it without all the research, so I appreciate that.”
Smith emphasized that while familiarity is helpful, there are limits due to differences in coaching staff or player roles: “But any information we can get from any source, we we’re going after that,” he said. “The more familiarity we can gain every week, I see it as a five-day race to learn as much about them as you possibly can so that we can be prepared for the test that’s showing up on the weekend.”
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero highlighted the value of inside knowledge when facing former colleagues and players: “I would say first of all, schematically, certainly a guy like Shaquille is in a good position and has a great vantage point to give good insight on what we’ve done here,” Evero said. “And it’s no different than the new quarterback we just picked up here, who’s got that insight as well on what Buffalo does…He’s going to have insight on the players and the things they do well…”
Running backs coach Brad Idzik commented on balancing playing time among running backs Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle, and rookie Trevor Etienne: “You want to continue to get them touches in different ways,” Idzik said Thursday. “You want them to get a rhythm…giving them certain tags to make sure that Jimmy (Horn) gets in the game and Jalen Coker gets in the game, and Trevor gets some touches as well because he did some great things with the ball last week.”
The Bills currently rank 31st in rush defense this season by allowing an average of 156.3 rushing yards per game; meanwhile, Carolina ranks third in rushing offense at 140.1 yards per game.
On special teams performance recognition over recent weeks—kicker Ryan Fitzgerald earned NFL player of the week honors after defeating Dallas; punter Sam Martin received similar honors following victory over New York Jets—Smith remarked: “Yeah our imaginary trophy case is just growing by the day.” When asked about long snapper JJ Jansen’s chances for recognition next: “JJ would have to recover a fumble in the end zone…It stretches bounds of creativity to get JJ more acclaim.”
Smith declined specifics regarding backup plans at specialist positions but stressed ongoing cross-training efforts among team members: “It starts with their availability for the game…So you’re looking for a guy who has some adaptability. And experience helps if they’ve done this stuff before…We always have a different backup punt team for week because they’re constantly training more positions…”
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