With Chuba Hubbard suffering a calf injury, the Carolina Panthers have turned to Rico Dowdle as their rushing leader. Hubbard is still getting re-acclimated into the offense after making his return in Week 7.
Dowdle has forced the Panthers' hand, gained 473 scrimmage yards in the two games Hubbard missed. However, the latter running back admits he returned from injury a bit too early. Hubbard is still trying to find himself and get fully past his calf injury, via team reporter Kassidy Hill.
“I think in all honesty, like, I’m a competitor and when I came back from my calf, I wasn’t maybe quite where I wanted to be,” Hubbard said. “Obviously, in the league you’re never gonna be 100 percent. I just want to be there for my team, so maybe rushed it back a little sooner than I should have, which is my own doing.”
“Maybe just feeling a little off,” he continued. “I kind of had — not to get into the details of what exactly was going on with my calf — but I had a few different things going on with it. And it was just kind of hard to explain some of the stuff that I was dealing with.”
In the Panthers' 30-27 overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons, Hubbard received four carries compared to Dowdle's 19. He did average 5.3 yards per carry, making the most of his opportunities. However, Hubbard has yet to reclaim his pre-injury role.
Perhaps when the running back is further removed from his calf ailment, Carolina will start giving him more opportunities. It'll be difficult to take the ball out of Dowdle's hands though. Regardless, Hubbard is only looking forward and wants to handle his injury the right way this time.
