HEALTH WATCH

 

• DT Chas Alecxih, who was carted off Sunday with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, underwent an MRI Monday morning. The results will likely confirm it's a season-ender.

 

• DE Rakim Cox, who returned Sunday after missing two practices with a sore back, wasn't on the field. Instead, he went to see a specialist, and coach Ron Rivera admitted there's concern Cox's ailment may be a long-term thing.

 

• WR Stephen Hill returned to practice after sitting out Sunday with soreness in his surgically repaired knee. He remained limited during team drills.

 

• DE Larry Webster, who pulled a hamstring midway through Friday's Fan Fest practice, missed his second straight practice.

 

• LB Ben Jacobs, who appeared to tweak an ankle late in Fan Fest, was also out again.

 

PLAY OF THE DAY

 

WR Kelvin Benjamin didn't land in bounds, but this play from 1-on-1s gets the nod because of the great effort from both sides:

Here’s that Benjamin vs Bradberry pic.twitter.com/5KQgJjsUIW

— Black & Blue Review (@BlackBlueReview) August 8, 2016

There's not much else rookie CB James Bradberry could have done to stop Benjamin from making that grab.

"All you can do against a guy like him — just go up there, put your arms in his way, at least try to knock the ball down. But his arms are so long — he's already 6-5 — so he has a huge radius for the quarterback to put the ball anywhere around him."

 

PLAYER NOTES

 

• QB Derek Anderson was intercepted twice on deep balls intended for WR Damiere Byrd, first by DB Colin Jones and then by CB Robert McClain. Anderson and Byrd finally connected to beat CB Lou Young late in practice.

 

• WR Avius Capers used his speed to go 2-for-2 on deep routes in 1-on-1s.

 

• WR Keyarris Garrett held off CB Zack Sanchez to win a jump ball from QB Cam Newton near the goal line in 1-on-1s. Sanchez bounced back later in the drill with a nice pass breakup of quick out to WR Miles Shuler.

 

• TE Braxton Deaver, who continues to work in a bit with the 1s, found a soft spot in the defense to haul in a 20-yard gain from Newton during team drills.

 

• TE Scott Simonson received a good review from Rivera for the second time in a week:

"[He] is most certainly playing himself onto the roster, that's for sure."

NOTABLE NUGGETS

 

• A fuming Rivera put a sudden stop to the 3rd-teamers time in the 2-minute drill. He called the entire team together for an impromptu chewing out that included a reminder about Thursday's preseason opener against the Ravens.

"Baltimore doesn’t care. They’re going to line up and they're going to come right at you," Rivera explained afterward.

"We missed a couple of alignments early on, and more so than anything else that really bothered me. Mostly the young guys, and that is even more troublesome because they are the ones that will get the bulk of the work.

"I wanted to make sure they understood, that, 'Hey guys, that’s not good enough. You are going to come out and you’re not going to know where to line up, and you are going to get the crap kicked out of you.' I wasn’t going to have it."

 

 

• When asked if Newton would see about two or three series Thursday night, Rivera indicated it might be even less if the offense comes out of the gate with an impressive touchdown drive.

 

• As practice was wrapping up, the Panthers worked out four players on an adjacent field. Two were DTs and a couple were DEs. One will likely fill Alecxih's spot on the roster and another could take Cox's if doctors determine his back injury is serious.