The Carolina Panthers are excited for the regular season to finally begin. They traveled to New England for their first preseason game against the Patriots. However, they dealt with some unexpected adversity on their travels back to Charlotte.
Carolina endured a bit of a plane scare after the game. The Delta Airlines flight that was reportedly carrying Carolina Panthers players ran off the runway moments after touching down at Charlotte Douglas International Airport early this morning.
The incident happened around 2:30AM ET when Delta Flight 8860 landed in Charlotte after taking off from Providence, Rhode Island, just after midnight, per WCNC.
“The right main gear of Delta 8860 exited the taxiway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport following a normal arrival,” the airline shared with the New York Post.
WCNC reported that emergency vehicles raced towards the plane shortly after it went off the runway. Witnesses at the airport said that the plane was carrying an unknown number of Panthers players.
Thankfully, Delta confirmed that none of the plane's 188 passengers were injured in the possibly dangerous situation.
“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” Delta said in their statement to WCNC.
Recapping last night's Panthers vs. Patriots preseason game
The Carolina Panthers lost to the New England Patriots 17-3 last night in Foxborough.
It was Carolina's first game with Dave Canales at head coach.
He did not plan on playing his starters. In fact, only three players from the team's unofficial depth chart of starters actually dressed for the game — Jonathan Mingo, DJ Johnson, and Dane Jackson.
“Tonight was about our first-time guys, the rookies, the guys that haven’t had a chance to play in the NFL. I think what they found tonight is: it’s just football. They ran and they played hard,” Canales said after not playing any of his first-teamers. ”For me, it was just a great opportunity to be able to talk to the coaches, talk to the officials. … It was just great reps for me to just get the flow how the communication happens and being able to work all through that.”
Undrafted rookie Jack Plummer started the game for the Panthers. The offense only managed 70 yards and three first downs under Plummer.
Meanwhile, the Patriots weren't shy about playing some of their young starters. New England even started first-round QB Drake Maye, though he is currently viewed as behind veteran Jacoby Brissett.
“That was always the plan,” Mayo said of Maye's short stint. “The plan was to get him in there for one series.”
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