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Defense rallies after Kuechly exits

Luke Kuechly exited a game early.

While A.J. Klein was concerned for his fellow linebacker when he suffered a concussion in Sunday’s season opener at Jacksonville, Klein sounded unconcerned about the tall task of replacing Kuechly.

"If Luke goes down, I go in," Klein said. "It’s as simple as that."

Despite Klein’s matter-of-fact approach, the fact of the matter is that no one can simply replace Kuechly, a player with two NFL tackle titles and one NFL Defensive Player of the Year trophy through his first three pro seasons.

Or maybe it is that simple after all - with a little help from your friends.