Panthers at Bills: 3 matchups to watch for

Backup quarterbacks vs. Bills’ defense

This will be a key matchup on Thursday and a very interesting one to one. Obviously Garrett Gilbert and Taylor Heinicke are not going to take the starting job away from Cam Newton, but this will be their first test of the season as Newton will probably only play a series or two.

The Bills have a strong secondary led by Tre’Davious White and although the latter will only probably play a series or two, he can still make an impact while he is in there.

This too is all dependent upon the reads made by Gilbert and Henicke. It will be interesting to see how quickly they can make them, and how their timing matches up with the rest of the wideouts. Both parties have had a strong camp. Now, we will have to see if they can put the things they learned together to lead the offense down the field. My guess is that the offensive tempo will be slower than when Newton is on the field. That should not be a cause for concern.

With the offensive line not in top shape (more on that later), how quickly they make their reads and how they react when pressured by a pass rush will be important too. You can often tell a lot about a quarterback by how they respond under pressure and this will be something to watch for.

Either the defense will feast on the signal-callers, or the quarterbacks will hold their own. It will be fun to see how that shakes out.