In a game filled with injuries, the Bengals first-round pick missed his first career game, the team’s fourth-round pick made his debut. Starting center Billy Price watched from the sidelines wearing street clothes and a specialized boot that hopes to heal his foot in the next week or two.
On the field, running back Mark Walton was the offense’s sole option behind Giovani Bernard, and got his first taste of regular season action. Find out how he and the other rookies played in the Bengals 31-21 defeat in Carolina in this week’s rookie report:
The Panthers offense realized early in the game that they didn’t need to test the Bengals secondary (sans cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick) when they could just run the ball down the Bengals defense’s throat.