NFC Notes: Bryce Young, Todd Bowles, Chris Olave, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

• Regarding rumors raised by former Browns GM Michael Lombardi that he might retire at the end of this season, Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles responded “definitely not” via JoeBucsFan.com.
• ESPN’s Dan Graziano mentions there was some outside speculation about Bowles’ status earlier this season but Tampa Bay’s resurgence into first place in the NFC South has quieted that speculation. 
• Bowles said fourth-round RB Bucky Irving‘s back tightened up a bit and they will need to loosen it to return in Week 15. (Greg Auman)
• The Buccaneers worked out six players this week, including LB Shaun Bradley, P Nik Constantinou, LB Jabril Cox, LB Deion Jennings, OLB Deion Jones and P Jake Julien, via Aaron Wilson. 
• Of this group, Tampa Bay signed Jones to their practice squad.

Panthers

The Panthers switched back to QB Bryce Young when QB Andy Dalton got into a car accident and Young has made strides towards being the franchise quarterback they hoped when taking him number one overall. Carolina HC Dave Canales was asked if Young would’ve gotten the chance had Dalton not been hurt but feels Young is making the most of the opportunity.

“Yeah, it would’ve been really interesting and fortunately, we got the opportunity,” Canales said, via Mike Kaye. “Bryce got the opportunity that he did. And on the other side of it, I was pulling for Andy [Dalton] at the time, too, who was building some weeks. He had a couple rough weeks, and was like, ‘Okay, here we go. Let’s get this thing back on track.’ It’s two stories and that’s life. Bryce made the most of his opportunities and here we are. Just with the weekly growth, took another step in a positive direction against a really good team. That’s where we’re at, we’re week to week. Here we go against the Cowboys and we’ll have to lock back in.” 

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has heard Panthers owner Dave Tepper has been more hands-off recently and is trying to be intentional about having patience for GM Dan Morgan and Canales to rebuild a roster that’s in a pretty bad state. 

Saints

Saints HC Darren Rizzi confirmed both QB Jake Haener and fifth-round QB Spencer Rattler are competing for the starting role this week. He added there’s a lot of confidence in whoever ends up getting the nod. 

“They’re both guys that throw the ball well, they’re both similar size guys, athletic ability is very similar,” Rizzi said, via PFT. “There’ll be some nuances in the game plan, depending on which guy starts, naturally. . . . But it’s not going to be this wholesale deal.”

• Rizzi said they could give a shot to both quarterbacks to see who performs better: “It could be a situation where both guys get a shot here and we see which guy performs better, make it a competition, but both those guys … have handled it very maturely.” (Jeff Nowak)
• Although Rizzi said WR Chris Olave won’t return from injured reserve this week, he didn’t rule out the possibility of him playing at some point this season: “All options are still on the table.” (Mike Triplett)