It was an afternoon to forget for the Carolina Panthers in Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills, and it could have been much worse somehow.
Hopes were high that head coach Dave Canales' squad could be competitive versus a genuine Super Bowl contender, but it wasn't to be. And to make matters worse, fans also have some concerning injury developments to monitor in the coming days.
Carolina's offensive line was decimated. Taylor Moton and Cade Mays both left the game. Brady Christensen was carted off with what Canales revealed was a torn Achilles tendon, which will rule him out for the entire season and much longer. But there was no more worrying issue than the one potentially around prolific defensive lineman Derrick Brown.
Carolina Panthers offer promising outlook on Derrick Brown's knee injury
The No. 7 overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft has been Carolina's linchpin this season. Brown has firmly established himself among the league's best interior forces in the trenches, and one could make a strong case for nobody playing better right now. Unfortunately, he was forced off against the Buffalo Bills and didn't return.
Carolina officially listed this as a knee problem. Brown was checked in the medical tent and walked around afterwards, but the Panthers were wise not to risk further damage with the result long gone.
Considering Brown missed all but one game last season with a serious knee injury, it's not hard to see why fans were fearful. The Panthers' defense capitulated without him in 2024. However, Canales offered a somewhat promising outlook without having all the necessary information.
The coach revealed that Brown was kept out as a precaution. Carolina will run more tests, but it was a positive piece of information amid the doom and gloom. Nothing has been confirmed one way or another as yet. Even so, all signs point to the record-breaking lineman being on the field in Week 9 against the Green Bay Packers.
This was a gut check all around for the Panthers. They'd won four of their last five, but this represented their most testing measuring stick by a considerable margin. It didn't go according to plan, and it proved just how far away Carolina is from being classed as a legitimate challenger.
Still, at least Brown seems to have avoided a severe injury. That is probably the most significant positive to take away from a disastrous outing in which nothing seemed to go right for the Panthers.