NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Chase Young, Commanders, Panthers

Buccaneers

Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles said they’ve begun implementing a no-huddle offense and can find ways to “take advantage” of defenses when using it situationally. 

“Well, we’ve implemented it some,” Bowles said, via NFL.com. “We did it against Atlanta. I thought we did it a little bit, it was either Carolina or Pittsburgh, as well. We can implement it more so. Obviously, we can’t do that the whole game — the defense and special teams would be worn out. But we can try to take advantage of some things that way. Really, it’s a block here and a block there or a play here and a play there for us to continue keeping offensive drives alive.”

Bowles added that the no-huddle allows Tom Brady to “dissect things” and thinks their offense “locked in” during the game-winning drive on Monday night. 

“It all starts with the quarterback,” Bowles said. “He can dissect things — he’s seen it plenty of times. I guess the urgency clicked even more so in the two-minute [drill] being down that way and guys just locked in. You want to do that the entire game, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We’re just glad we got it in the end.”

Commanders

Commanders HC Ron Rivera said the team’s performance on the defensive front has allowed them to remain patient with DE Chase Young.

“I think the biggest thing more so than anything else is with the way we’re playing right now, and we’re playing pretty well on the defensive front, the need to get him on the field hasn’t been that you gotta have him out there, we need him, it’s a must,” Rivera said, via PFT. “This is one of those things that, because our guys are playing well, we can get him back when he’s 100 percent ready to roll. And that’s the biggest thing, is we don’t want to put him out there when he’s not ready and feeling it. I know he’s close, I really do, and, again, I think the big thing for him more so than anything else, is just to continue to do what he needs to do and we’ll see how he is next week. But, again, it’s putting the guy out there when he’s ready, 100 percent, or as close as possible as it can be. But I do know, again, we’ve been doing some pretty good things with the guys we have out there. Yesterday we had a couple of guys get nicked up as well, and we’ll see how they are the next couple of days. But I’m pretty optimistic going forward for next week.”

Rivera added that he wants to make sure Young is able to protect himself when he’s on the field.

“[T]he only real way for him to get true work on this now is out on the field. And now that we’re in the peak of the season, it’s one of those things that you can’t mimic [in practice] what he’s going to get out there in the game,” Rivera said. “So, he’s just got to continue to work at it and build that confidence and, again, I know one of the things is the severity of his injury wasn’t divulged early, mostly because they didn’t want it divulged. But as it got out there, I think people gotta understand that this was more than your normal knee injury. This involved a little bit more. That’s why I think the rehab has been a little bit more. He’s really come a long way, he looks good, and now it’s just a matter of if he’s ready to go, we’ll get him out there.”

Panthers

• Panthers DE Henry Anderson said he suffered a minor stroke that hospitalized him for a few days and he experienced numbness in his legs. However, Anderson thinks he’s recovered “very quickly.”  (Joe Person)
• Anderson said doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause of his stroke and had a procedure to relieve a blood clot in his brain. (Joe Person)
• Panthers RB D’Onta Foreman (foot) said he is “95 percent certain” that he will play in Week 14 and believes he suffered his injury when his foot got caught in the artificial turf during last Sunday’s game. (Joe Person)
• The Panthers worked out three quarterbacks on Tuesday, including Kurt Benkert, Davis Cheek and Reid Sinnett. (Aaron Wilson)
• Of this group, Carolina signed Cheek to their practice squad.