The Panthers might need the heroics of a backup OL in Green Bay again
Jake Curhan remembers last year’s game at Lambeau Field.
He remembers keeping his helmet strapped on. He remembers remaining within arm’s length of Panthers offensive line coach Harold Goodwin while on the sideline.
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He even remembers, at some point in the first half, hearing his name called several times and sprinting out onto the field. He was the Carolina Panthers’ backup interior offensive lineman that day, and when a starter went down, his instincts kicked in, and he sprinted to the huddle that quarterback Bryce Young was hurriedly trying to organize.
There’s something else he remembers, too.
“What’s funny about that one, last year, is I actually was running out onto the field and looking at Goodie, and I was like, ‘Who’s hurt?’” Curhan told The Charlotte Observer in front of his locker on Tuesday. “I knew going into the game which positions I was blocking. But I wasn’t exactly sure, in that instance, who had gone down.”
He smiled and shook his head as he recalled not knowing, for a few seconds, if he was filling in at left guard … or right guard … or center … for a play that was seconds away from snapping.
“I remember not seeing it, looking over to the sideline and yelling, ‘Is it D-Lew?’”
Panthers fans don’t need any help remembering what happened next. Curhan played a few plays in left guard Damien Lewis’ stead. Then Lewis returned. Then, right guard Chandler Zavala went down, and Curhan (who’d only joined the team a few weeks earlier) went right back in there again, this time at right guard.
Curhan lived the ultimate life of a backup offensive lineman that day: He was the team’s mystery man who helped lift the Panthers from 14-point underdogs to walk-off winners against last year’s stalwart Green Bay Packers — it was a victory that, in many ways, changed the trajectory of Carolina’s season.
Now, nearly 12 months later, on the eve of facing the same Green Bay Packers franchise on Thursday Night Football, the Panthers are faced with a similar conundrum:
They might need backup offensive linemen heroics to defeat the Packers again.
Why might the Panthers need this kind of heroism again?
Because they might be missing a key starting guard.
Lewis, the Panthers’ best offensive lineman on the year statistically, has missed two consecutive days of practice with a knee injury, according to the team’s injury report. Panthers coach Dave Canales told reporters on Tuesday that Lewis is “day-to-day,” and that if he can’t go, they’ll have to prepare some reserve linemen to go up against one of the better defensive fronts in the league.
Canales offered a list of options the Panthers will consider going with in Lewis’ stead if it comes to that.
“If D-Lew can’t go, is it Corey Bullock?” Canales said. “Is it Jake Curhan? He’s played quality ball for us, and we’ve won games with Jake. Celly (Torricelli Simpkins)? He’s got an injury as well; he’s one of the guys that we’re looking at. So trying to figure out the best puzzle piece for our game plan and what our run-game might look like.”
Now, it’s not likely that Curhan will start if Lewis can’t go. And it’s not because the 6-foot-6, 325-pound mammoth is on the practice squad; all signs point to Curhan being elevated to the game day roster for Sunday’s game if Lewis can’t go.
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The reason Curhan probably won’t be the first guard to slot in for Lewis is because the Panthers already have someone they really like on their active roster — Corey Bullock.
Bullock has played in six games and started one for the Panthers this year. He’s totaled 121 offensive snaps — 29% of all offensive snaps, serving as the primary backup for the two guard positions and the center position. Canales loves what they’ve seen from Bullock, who the team picked up off the waiver wire from the Baltimore Ravens mere days before the start of the regular season.
Bullock admitted that a week like this one — one in which he doesn’t know if he’ll be asked to start or not — is a bit different than others … even if his preparation remains the same.
“The biggest differences, as a backup, you gotta be ready at any moment,” Bullock told The Observer. “Whereas going in as a starter, you kind of have a full week of preparation working with the center, or working with the guard throughout the week to kind of mesh out some of those things. … But we do a good job up here getting extra work with each other, and taking extra time.”
Bullock’s first taste of a regular season game with the Panthers was as a backup. Week 1. When he’d only been with the team for just about two weeks.
“The biggest thing going into this week is being on one accord up front,” Bullock said. “If we play as one, I feel as though we can make this thing go, we can make the offense go. It’s all about being on one accord and communicating.”
The Packers are among the most explosive teams in the league. Quarterback Jordan Love is Top 5 in passing yards. That’s because he’s great and has great receiving weapons, like Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. It’s also because they’ve struggled to establish the run so far this year.
Similar circumstances were true a year ago, when the Panthers upset the Packers.
A path to defeating the Packers remains on the ground game: putting together long drives, protecting the ball, winning field position battles, commanding time of possession. Last year, Rico Dowdle ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns. That was thanks to the offensive line — especially the reserve player who stepped up.
Curhan on Tuesday was asked about his favorite block from that day — that 19-16 win over the Packers that is setting up to feel eerily similar to the one on Thursday night — and shuddered a smile.
“We ran one under two minutes at the end, where Rico ripped off a 30-yarder,” Curhan said. “And it was right off my (right) side. Credit to Rico. Not that it was a bad job, but I think I could’ve done a better job. But just seeing him squeeze through there and not get tackled and him getting us into field goal range. That was just, ‘Alright we got it.’
“It was like, ‘Alright, we’re going to have a real good shot to win this one.’”
The game, in many ways, came down to a key run — helped paved by a player who was unsure if he’d play at all on that Sunday.
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The Panthers might need such heroics again.
This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 6:25 PM.
