What do you do when your backup running back looks like a star, and your starter hasn’t done anything to lose his job?
A calf injury cost Chuba Hubbard two games and opened the door for Rico Dowdle’s anticipated Carolina Panthers' breakout. He put up 389 rushing yards in his absence. The Oklahoma State product returned only to take a backseat — at least until last weekend.
Against the Los Angeles Rams, Hubbard looked like the player Carolina invested in with a four-year, $32 million extension. He ripped off 83 rushing yards, added 41 more through the air, and turned a third-down swing pass into a 35-yard touchdown that ignited Bank of America Stadium into pure delerium.
Carolina Panthers must lean on their running back tandem to spearhead playoff quest
His 54 third-down scrimmage yards were the second-most of his career. But here’s the twist: Dowdle didn’t go anywhere. He had 18 carries, 58 physical yards, and two more catches to secure his sixth game with at least 75 scrimmage yards. For weeks, he’s been the engine of this offense. And versus a leading Super Bowl challenger, he didn’t look like a man losing his grip on anything.
On the day, the Panthers ran the ball on 61.3 percent of their plays, the highest rate of the Dave Canales era. They averaged over four yards per carry on inside runs. And for the first time since 2022, two Panthers backs each cleared 75 scrimmage yards.
“I like the balance,” Canales said, and the tape backs him up. Carolina has never looked more like the bruising, punishing, clock-stealing team they want to be. It's also brought a dilemma the head coach must embrace, not avoid.
Hubbard looks like the more explosive weapon right now. Dowdle still looks like the steadier engine. But both look indispensable.
The Panthers have been desperately searching for just one reliable running back since trading Christian McCaffrey. Now they have two, which is something Carolina hasn't had since D'Onta Foreman and Hubbard thrived under interim head coach Steve Wilks.
Carolina has to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice in the final three games. They must win the line of scrimmage. They must control the tempo for quarterback Bryce Young. They must run the football.
At the bye week, the choice facing Canales isn’t about who sits and who starts. It’s about recognizing that Carolina’s postseason hopes hinge on embracing a backfield tandem that is suddenly, undeniably, too effective to limit.