4 fatal flaws the Carolina Panthers must fix during their bye week

Carolina Panthers must rest and rehab

How many times have Carolina Panthers fans read the words, “Christian McCaffrey suffered injury”, since his record-breaking season?

To add onto the All-Pro running back heading back on season-ending injured/reserve, cornerback Donte Jackson is also out for the campaign with a groin injury. This leaves the Panthers thin on the back end once again.

Beyond that, the team as a whole has just looked gassed recently. There is a reason you hear teams and sportscasters alike talking about a player’s “motor” all the time.

Injuries happen, it’s part of the game.

However, the responsibility of limiting them falls onto the player and the coaching staff in equal measure. A large part of that is rest and managing just how large of a workload a specific player has.

This goes beyond in-game touches. How many reps a player has both in-game and during practice also contributes.

This is one of the main reasons teams look forward to a mid to late-season bye week. Even if something isn’t listed on the injury report, the nature of an NFL season means that almost everyone is hurting in some way and could use some extended time off to recover.

There is a point to veterans getting practices off after all. The body can only take so much punishment before it breaks down and loses its energy.

Soft tissue injuries especially are a result of overwork without the necessary time to recover and that’s exactly the type of thing plaguing the team right now.

With how gassed and indifferent the Panthers have looked in the past few weeks, a nice rest may be just what the doctor ordered to get them back to their winning ways of the early season.