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David Newton
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers had just completed their first practice of training camp in late July when coach Dave Canales uttered these words: «I think that the sky’s the limit for this group. This is going to be a very competitive team. I don’t think people are going to want to play us, by the style of football that we play. I’m expecting that.»
That didn’t appear to be the case during a 1-3 start or even as recently as nine days ago when Carolina was trounced 40-9 by the Buffalo Bills.
Then Sunday happened.
The Panthers (5-4) pulled off a 16-13 upset of the Green Bay Packers (5-2-1) at Lambeau Field with a walk-off 49-yard field goal by rookie Ryan Fitzgerald. They did it with a sound, aggressive defense and a power running game led by Rico Dowdle.
The latter is significant. Canales didn’t envision Dowdle playing such a large role when he joined the team during the offseason on a one-year free agent deal. Chuba Hubbard, who signed a four-year extension last November, was his guy. Canales even attempted to keep Hubbard fully involved when he returned from a calf injury three games ago.
After two weeks of an equally split backfield, it became clear the production Dowdle offered in the two games when Hubbard was sidelined was what the offense needed.
So Canales did away with his two-week experiment of alternating series and featured Dowdle against the Packers. Dowdle rewarded him with 130 yards rushing, including a 19-yard run with 40 seconds left that set up the game-winning field goal.
«From carry one it was attitude,» Canales said. «It was aggression and violence at the end of it, and it really does affect the group. It affects the whole sideline when they see that kind of energy and that kind of violence.
«It gives them confidence, and it’s who we want to be.»
5 takes it in for 6
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— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 2, 2025
The Panthers are 3-0 with Dowdle as the starter and 2-4 with him coming off the bench. Dowdle insists he doesn’t look much at the numbers, but they show why Canales opted to feature the 27-year-old who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season for the Dallas Cowboys.
Since Week 5, including the two games he split reps with Hubbard, Dowdle leads the NFL with 454 rushing yards inside the tackles. After gaining 126 of his 130 yards against Green Bay inside the tackles, his 291 such yards are 88 more than league rushing leader Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts and 163 more than the Baltimore Ravens’ Derrick Henry.
Dowdle now ranks third in the NFL in total rushing yards (735) and running back expected points added (19.3), trailing only Taylor and Buffalo’s James Cook III. He is also third in yards per carry (5.6), seventh in rushing attempts (131), and tied for fourth with 35 rushing first downs.
Need more? The Panthers have averaged 24.3 points and 206 rushing yards per game in Dowdle’s starts, and only 16.2 and 106.7 yards in the other games.
It’s not all Dowdle. The defense is allowing 17.5 points per game and 282.3 yards per game during quarterback Bryce Young’s four-game win streak (he missed the Buffalo game with a high ankle sprain). Even with the Buffalo loss, the Panthers rank eighth in yards allowed during that span with 307.8.
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— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 2, 2025
Then he made his only real mistake of the day. With six of his teammates around him, they executed a celebration that drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, which pushed the extra point attempt to 48 yards, which Fitzgerald missed.
But the defense continued to play well and put Dowdle in position to make up for the mistake with his 19-yard run.
«The run game is hard because everyone has to do their job for it to be successful,» tight end Tommy Tremble said. «Him being able to break all those key runs, it’s awesome to see that because everyone’s hard work is paying off.
«It’s an energy that a lot of guys can feed off of and be like, ‘Let’s just run the ball. Like that’s what we do good. Like they can’t stop us. Let’s keep going.»’
The Panthers will need that down the stretch when they face top NFC contenders in the San Francisco 49ers (6-3), Los Angeles Rams (6-2) and Seattle Seahawks (6-2), plus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2) twice. The formula the Panthers demonstrated Sunday could be what helps them end a seven-year playoff and a winning-record drought.
«We’ve got NFC opponents for the rest of the season,» Dowdle said. «So a win like this definitely matters and helps us build towards where we want to be at the end of the season.»
