The Panthers have dealt with an injury to their interior offensive line consistently since Week 1 in San Francisco. After Ryan Kalil elected not to test his neck injury in the home opener against Buffalo, Tyler Larsen has filled in admirably aside from a one-quarter neck test in Chicago that sent Kalil back to the inactive list for another month. With Kalil returning last week, Larsen wasn’t missed as he sat out the game with a foot injury and Kalil played all 64 snaps in a throwback, albeit a rusty one, to his Pro Bowl past.
Now that Kalil has returned, the Panthers were at full strength across their offensive line for exactly 60 minutes before Trai Turner arrived at Bank of America Stadium with concussion symptoms on Monday morning and entered the NFL’s concussion protocol. Without practicing all week, the Panthers have declared Turner out for Sunday’s matchup with Green Bay, and Ron Rivera said Friday that Amini Silatolu will get the start at right guard next to Daryl Williams instead of Tyler Larsen, who is questionable with the same foot injury that kept him out last week.
“Amini practiced very well, plus he’s started for us at that position, so he knows the guard position,” Rivera said about the former second-round pick who spent 2016 out of football. “He’s very physical the way he plays. One of those guys who when he gets his hands on you, he’s got a chance to do something, he’s got good power too; that’s the other thing we like about him. For as effective as we can be running the ball, especially this time of year and down the stretch it’s important for us.”
The Panthers, who have rushed for over 200 yards in three of their last five games and are averaging 193.6 over that stretch, will be relying on Silatolu to open up holes for their running game, and he’ll be in a good position, sandwiched between a six-time Pro Bowler in Kalil and Pro Football Focus’ 8th best offensive lineman in third-year tackle Daryl Williams.
Silatolu was a healthy scratch for the past two weeks as the Panthers relied on Taylor Moton and Greg Van Roten as their only two backup offensive linemen; Silatolu has played 54 snaps this season, 12 of them coming at guard and the rest at tackle as he sporadically replaced linemen who were sidelined with injuries throughout the season, including when Trai Turner missed time with a knee injury.
Ron Rivera says Tyler Larsen will be available on Sunday as a backup across the interior despite his questionable tag.
“We know that the more you can do the better. You don’t have ten guys to go in there for the game, so you’ve got to make sure you know all the positions and be ready for whatever happens,” said Larsen about perhaps playing on Sunday at a different position against a Green Bay defense that operates out of the 3-4 instead of the traditional 4-3. “They’re very crafty, they’ve got a lot of different looks and like to play with a lot of linebackers, so we’ll just have to make sure that we’re communicating up front.”
