Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez suffers injury in warmups Week 15 vs. Bills

Update: The Panthers have receivers doing kickoffs in the second half. This is getting even weirder.

This week has been a busy one on the injury/COVID front for the NFL and the Carolina Panthers have found themselves in an unfortunate predicament against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Kicker Zane Gonzalez suffered a quad injury during pregame warmups before the Week 15 road bout, leaving the Panthers without an official kicker for the afternoon. Punter Lachian Edwards will serve as the emergency kicker for Carolina, but that was only after they scrambled and held an impromptu kicking tryout for the rest of warmups. It didn’t go well to say the least.

This has already impacted the Panthers in the first quarter of today’s game as they’ve tried and failed on two fourth down attempts. The team got all the way down to the Buffalo 24 before a Cam Newton pass on 4th and 9 went incomplete. They faced a 4th and 1 situation at midfield on the very next drive before turning the ball over on downs once again following an incomplete pass.

We’ll see if Carolina can manage without a kicker for the rest of the game.