CHARLOTTE — Every four weeks, Panthers head coach Dave Canales takes a break to self-scout.

And on Monday, that meant looking at a number of things as they plan for the next quarter of the season, including his running back rotation.

Canales said that included discussing the distribution of work between veteran starter Chuba Hubbard and backup Rico Dowdle, who had an incredible two weeks in Hubbard's absence earlier this season.

Canales said they haven't made a final decision and haven't talked to the players themselves about it. During the two weeks Hubbard was out with a calf strain, Dowdle ran for 389 yards and averaged 7.3 yards per carry. Since Hubbard came back and reclaimed the lead role in the backfield, he's averaged 2.5 yards per carry on 26 attempts, to Dowdle's 5.7 per carry on 25 attempts.

"It's a fair observation, and you know Chuba has meant a lot to this organization, certainly to the identity that we want to build our team on," Canales said. "And wanted to give Chuba the opportunity to go out there and to continue to impact our team in a positive way.

"We cannot ignore the fact that Rico has been exceptional in a couple of games and then in the opportunities he's had over the last two weeks. He's made some excellent plays, loved the tempo and violence that he's running with, and these are all things that we're talking about and working through this week as we look back on these last four games and really taking a snapshot of what's been successful for us. These are conversations that we do definitely have to have."

Canales reiterated that they haven't made a final decision and would continue to appreciate the work that Hubbard has done here. He helped stabilize the team through last year's building process, rushing for a career-best 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns in 15 games. Dowdle signed a one-year deal here as a free agent after he ran for 1,079 yards and two touchdowns last year for the Cowboys.

"That's something we're looking at, and you know, again, we have to respect the job that Chuba has done for us, to get us to the point where we've established a mentality about how we run," Canales said. "And we cannot ignore the fact that Rico has made an impact when he's been out there.

"So these are things that we're talking through as a staff, and we'll make that decision as the week goes on."

Looking at all options on the offensive line

Canales didn't offer any injury updates on the offensive line after a game that saw three starters leave the game unable to finish.

He said Sunday that Brady Christensen had a "significant" Achilles injury, but deferred comment on Taylor Moton and Cade Mays' situations until Wednesday's injury report.

But he did say that Chandler Zavala would begin practicing this week, opening his 21-day window to return from injured reserve.

Zavala went on IR entering Week 5, after a knee injury in the loss at New England.

They could certainly use the depth after finishing with five healthy linemen on Sunday.

Canales said they would also look at all in-house options, from center Nick Samac, to practice squaders Brandon Walton and Saahdiq Charles, to go with the guys who finished the game.

"Those are the guys that we're talking to and looking at right now," Canales said. "So we'll make that decision as the week goes on, once we know where everyone's at."

Taking a look at Bryce Young later this week

Canales said starting quarterback Bryce Young did some running on Monday, and the hope is that he's able to practice on Wednesday.

Young was inactive Sunday because of an ankle injury, and Andy Dalton started in his place.

"With Bryce, just getting better every day, had a good session running today," Canales said. "And the goal is to get him out there on Wednesday, move him around, and see if we can get him into practice, in a mode. So I'm optimistic that he'll be out there, but we're going to take it day to day with him."

Young has only missed one game because of injury in his career, a Week 3 contest at Seattle in his rookie year.

Breaks in run defense were a result of a couple of factors

The day after a game is "Tell the Truth Monday" for the Panthers, and following their early film session after a 40-9 loss to the Bills, there were a lot of truths to tell. When it came to the run defense, there were a couple of things to acknowledge.

One, according to Christian Rozeboom, is accepting that the Bills "have a good scheme," as the linebacker shared on Monday.

That scheme helped James Cook III rush for a career best 216 yards, doing so against a Panthers' team that had the second-best rush defense in the NFL since Week 2. It's that latter fact that leads Rozeboom and the Panthers to acknowledge a second truth.

"We obviously didn't play to the standard that we've kind of set for ourselves," Rozeboom admitted.

"There's going to be stuff to fix, and obviously, in this league, everybody watches the film, so it's going to be something that we're going to have to deal with in the future. So, we'll get those things addressed, and I know the coaches will put us in good spots, and we'll make the plays and kind of get back to that run defense that we kind of established the last few weeks."

The challenge doesn't get any easier thanks to a date with Josh Jacobs on the calendar for Week 9. That's why breaking down what went wrong with Cook and the Bills is so important. The Panthers know they have several weeks' worth of really good tape also to look back on, taking notes from what they did right in other weeks. But that must be married with everything that fell apart on Sunday, and addressed as soon as they hit the grass for practice this week.

"I think it's definitely addressable," said Rozeboom. "If it's not, we wouldn't be, I mean, if we couldn't address it, there'd be no point in playing the game, so we got to get better.

"That's always the case, no matter if it's a win or a loss, we're looking to get better. And obviously this week it's more to look at than usual, unfortunately, but we're going to get those things fixed and get back to the standard we set as a defense."