The Carolina Panthers are off this week, but Luke Kuechly Watch continues.

In the latest update, coach Ron Rivera on Monday said Kuechly is still in the NFL’s concussion protocol, but there’s confidence the linebacker will be cleared by Carolina’s Week 6 game in Seattle.

“Hopefully, in the next couple days, they’ll be able to get that thing taken care of, so we’re pretty optimistic,” Rivera said. “But you know how I am.”

Yes, we do.

Last Monday, Rivera said, “[Kuechly’s] moving up in the protocol and hopefully we’ll have good news tomorrow.”

But when Kuechly wasn’t cleared by an independent neurologist, Rivera was much shorter with reporters on Wednesday.

“I’m not the doctor. I’m the football coach and I’m an optimistic guy, and I go through this procedure just like he is,” he said.

“I’m not going to get into this part of it anymore. I learned my lesson, I tried to give you guys what I thought I knew on Monday, and apparently, it was a little too much.”

Even though they’ve been without their best defensive player for three and a half games, the Panthers have managed to remain perfect. Their schedule hasn’t been a Murders’ Row, but of the NFL’s six remaining unbeaten teams, only one is awaiting the return of arguably the best linebacker in the league.

“I’d like to believe that as well as we’ve played, we’re going to play better,” Rivera said.

If and when Kuechly returns, the Panthers will be facing one of those problems teams want to have. They’ll likely have to find playing time for A.J. Klein, who’s filled Kuechly’s spot admirably. Instead of losing his job to first-round pick Shaq Thompson, Klein’s made a good argument to stay on the field, especially in obvious run situations.

“[Kuechly’s absence] forced a lot of guys to step up to the front to do their jobs better, know that they’re capable. I think it added a lot of confidence to some guys, particularly A.J.,” Rivera said.

“I think it also helped [Thomas Davis]. We had T.D. play [middle linebacker] in some of our situations, which was different for him. One thing that people always talk about is when you learn another position; you realize how it affects the way you do things.”

But not everything has been completely rosy without Kuechly. ‘Stout’ is not a word you’d use for how the Panthers’ defense played against three subpar offenses. The Texans, the Luke McCown-led Saints and the Bucs didn’t pile up points, but they averaged 364 yards. And getting off the field on third down has been noticeably tougher without Kuechly.

“If there was one area, that’s probably the one that sticks out the most. That and the red zone,” Rivera said.

Over the past two weeks, the Panthers allowed New Orleans and Tampa Bay to convert 15 of their 28 third-down opportunities. The Bucs’ success was especially problematic considering they were ranked second-last in the league on third down and had gone 1-for-12 against the Texans a week earlier.

In the red zone, Panthers’ opponents have scored touchdowns on eight of their 12 drives since Kuechly walked off the field in Jacksonville. Fortunately for Carolina, he could be back on it in Seattle.

“A.J. really doesn’t play a lot on third downs and he had to play a lot more than he normally had to, and it wasn’t really A.J. either, it was some of the people around at different positions,” Rivera said.

“I think again, hopefully having Luke back soon will help to correct those things.”