Shaq Thompson calls Mac Jones play “BS”

Panthers right tackle Taylor Moton understands the questions about the offense’s struggles, given the turnovers of quarterback Sam Darnold.

But in Moton’s world, he has a very narrow view of what he can do to fix it.

“I do what I can to protect the quarterback,” he said. “I want to do everything in my power to make him comfortable back there so he can make his best decisions. Obviously, the more comfortable a quarterback is in the pocket, the more apt he is to make better decisions. So I just do everything I can to play my role so he can play to the best of his ability.”

Moton’s been the one constant on the line this year, starting every game (though he did move to left tackle against the Eagles). And with center Matt Paradis out for the year with a torn ACL, the Panthers know they’ll have their seventh different combination of starting offensive linemen in 10 games this week.

“Matt’s a tremendous leader, tremendous communicator and player, and very, very intelligent guy,” Moton said. “He’s done a lot to make sure we’re all on the right guys, and doing and going where we’re supposed to go. It’s a huge blow, but ultimately, I have faith in everyone in the room, and I believe the next man up mentality and the next guy will play, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure he’s prepared through the week, so as a front we’re all as prepared as we can be.”

Outside linebacker Haason Reddick said Sunday he didn’t want to take questions about the offense, and Thompson said Monday he wasn’t worried about any divisions happening in the locker room because one side of the ball was performing better than the other.

“It’s never going to be no finger-pointing,” Thompson said. “We’re going to stay together. We’re in this together; we’re brothers. They got our back; we got their back, and we’re going to get this thing going.”