Who will start at quarterback on Sunday? Questions still abound between Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker

Suffice it to say, no matter what ends up happening at quarterback Sunday, it hasn’t been an ideal situation this week for the Panthers.

With Sam Darnold’s status up in the air until he meets with the independent neurologist to see if he clears the concussion protocol, they don’t know at the moment whether they’ll have Darnold or P.J. Walker start, or whether Darnold will back up, or whether practice squader James Morgan will be elevated to the game-day roster.

And no matter what, none of them will have gotten a full week’s worth of reps going into a game against Bill Belichick, as Darnold got limited practice throughout the week (which means Walker didn’t get them all in either).

Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady said earlier this week the lack of practice reps wouldn’t be an overwhelming factor, referencing their short-week game at Houston earlier this season, when they didn’t get much real work done on the field during the week.

“We really didn’t get to practice for that game,” Brady said when asked about Darnold’s ability to play without a full week of practice. “Sometimes it’s mental reps; sometimes it’s us just painting the picture on video.

“If he’s out there, I’ll feel confident with him out there.”

Brady said there are adjustments in the game plan depending on the quarterback, but they aren’t so vast that they can’t get good work done during the week. The night before the game, they meet with the quarterbacks to talk about which plays they feel best about, and can refine based on who has to play. As they learned last week in Atlanta, that can happen in an instant.

“Sometimes it happens quickly, and you’re in the red zone and you have to figure it out from there,” Brady said. “When you go into it, there are adjustments you make…

“When P.J. went in there the first play I called was a speed option. Go back to Atlanta last year; first play was him taking a shot on the go route. It’s not one of those things where it’s like you’re scratching trying to find plays. There’s a reason he’s here.”