Next man up.
The Panthers seem to have said that phrase so many times since Week 2 it should be emblazoned on the locker room wall. First Ed Dickson was the next man up for Greg Olsen when the tight end went out with a broken foot. Then Tyler Larsen stepped in for Ryan Kalil when Kalil woke up in neck pain and missed over a month. Two weeks later, Demetrious Cox was the next man up for safety Kurt Coleman; when Cox was injured later in the same game, Colin Jones was the next next man up. When Luke Kuechly exited the game Thursday night and entered the concussion protocol, it was David Mayo’s turn. But when Mayo moved into a role where he’s required to play 100% of the snaps, he left a special teams hole that wasn’t able to be filled with anyone currently on the roster.
When one man moves up, someone has to move up to take his place.
With Kuechly not fully practicing yet this week, Mayo prepares to take Kuechly’s place at middle linebacker and face a Bears offense that runs the ball at the third-highest rate in the league, while new signee Andrew Gachkar prepares to suit up on special teams only five days after he got the call that he is joining the team.
Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Gachkar said on Wednesday. “Staying up late and learning what I can, trying to get a foundation underneath me and going from there, gameplan wise. It’s my first week of the season, so it will be a battle for me. It won’t be like nerves; when you get this old, it’s not nerves that you’re shaking off, it’s the mud on your feet.”
The linebacker, who spent training camp this year in Jacksonville with the Jaguars after spending the past two seasons in Dallas with the Cowboys, earned his paycheck as a dependable special teams contributor, playing in every game but one in his six seasons in the NFL. Coach Ron Rivera said that they threw Gachkar into the mix on special teams on his first day and he looked good; wherever Gachkar is needed, he’s ready to contribute. While a linebacker signed off the street isn’t going to replace one of the best defensive players in the league, his job will actually be to replace the man who will be replacing Luke Kuechly, and that may be just as important. While Gachkar is eager to get into the game and make an impact, he’s quick to point out that the Bears gave up two special teams touchdowns last week; one Panther thinks he was pretty close to breaking a touchdown himself.
“I was real close,” kick returner Curtis Samuel said about his return against the Eagles in which he stumbled before being tackled after only 33 yards. “Real close. If I didn’t trip, it was a touchdown. Obviously, I’m not getting caught. I don’t like thinking about that but the only thing I can do is move forward and try to get one next week.” The presumed plan is for Gachkar to help on special teams and allow Mayo to focus on playing the middle linebacker role if Kuechly is out.
David Mayo led the team in special teams tackles last season and has led the team in special teams snaps this season, and while Mayo certainly has talent, it is a near impossibility to bring what the defensive captain brings to the table. When Kuechly left the game near the end of the first half on Thursday, the defense certainly felt a dropoff; an Eagles offense had scored three points in the first 20 minutes of the game went on to finish the game with 28 with Carson Wentz throwing for three touchdowns.
Kuechly’s absence isn’t just felt in the front seven; with safety Kurt Coleman missing time, Kuechly helped control the calls and checks made in the secondary; Coleman was a limited participant in practice today and could be on track to return on Sunday against the Bears where Mayo seems poised to make his debut if Kuechly stays in the protocol.
“It helps tremendously because with Kurt out, Luke was helping the secondary a lot,” Coach Rivera said after another practice where Kuechly did not participate Wednesday. “Now if you don’t have Luke, you’ll have Kurt back there who can control the secondary; so it takes a lot of pressure off whoever is going to play the Mike back there.”
In a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans earlier this year in which Mayo started for Kuechly and led the team in defensive snaps, he also led the team in tackles with seven solo tackles; he led the team in preseason tackles and was third in the NFL in that category, and he takes his work ethic from Kuechly, who averages over nine tackles per game throughout his career.
“Luke pushes me every day, more than he probably knows just from who he is and how he prepares for the game,” Mayo said. “And obviously his motor and how hard he works every day, too. I have learned a lot from him and continue to learn a lot from him.”
