Cam Newton officially out for Sunday; Panthers will start Kyle Allen
The Carolina Panthers announced on Friday that quarterback Cam Newton is out for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Newton re-aggravated a mid-foot sprain in his left foot last week; he first suffered the injury in Week 3 of the preseason, when he was sacked against the New England Patriots.
‘We want to make sure he is ready’
Carolina coach Ron Rivera spoke to media on Friday afternoon and discussed Newton, who was seen in a walking boot this week and has not practiced.
“He worked through a lot of the soreness this week, felt pretty good at the end of the week,” Rivera said. “[But] the one thing we don’t want to do is have another setback. So we want to make sure he is ready to roll and his foot can handle it.”
Newton is considered day-to-day, which could mean he’ll miss more than one game as the team gives him the proper time to get healthy.
The Panthers-Patriots game was on Aug. 22; Newton started the regular season opener 17 days later.
Kyle Allen to start
The Panthers will start second-year quarterback Kyle Allen, who was undrafted out of Houston last year.
Allen started the regular-season finale last year, on the road against the New Orleans Saints. The Panthers won the game, 33-14, with Allen completing 16-of-27 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
Via de facto NFL historian and recent Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, Allen marks the 20th quarterback age 26 or younger who is expected to start this week. That’s the most in a single week since 1950.
The previous high was 18, in Week 4 of the 1987 season.
Injuries to Newton and Drew Brees along with the benching of Eli Manning are contributing to the high number.
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