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The Carolina Panthers head down to South Florida this weekend to face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday, the two teams issued their first injury report of the week, then updated them yesterday. The main injury people are watching, of course, is Panthers defensive end Charles Johnson, who is fighting an MCL sprain, the same injury that sidelined Cameron Wake earlier this year.
According to Carolina head coach Ron Rivera, Johnson is "more than likely" out of Sunday's game. Johnson, who leads the team with 8.5 sacks this year, has not practiced this week. Maybe to make bad news for the Panthers even worse, yesterday's update to the injury report added defensive end Greg Hardy, who normally starts opposite Johnson, listing him as a non-participant in practice with a knee injury. Hardy is second on Carolina's roster with six sacks.
The Panthers also added cornerback Drayton Florence to the injury report, listing him as limited with a groin injury. The rest of the report remained the same, with linebacker Chase Blackburn (foot), tight end Ben Hartsock (knee), and guard Chris Scott (knee) all missing practice both Wednesday and Thursday.
There was only one change for the Thursday injury report for Miami, which is an estimate of who would have practiced, if the Dolphins actually held practices on Thursday. The team added safety Jimmy Wilson as a full participant with an abdominal injury.
The rest of the injury report was identical to Wednesday: tackle Jonthan Martin (illness) is out of Sunday's game, cornerback Dimitri Patterson (groin) and center Mike Pouncey (illness) would not have practiced, safety Chris Clemons (knee/shoulder), linebacker Dannell Ellerbe (knee), safety Reshad Jones (groin), and wide receiver Mike Wallace (hamstring) were all limited, and wide receiver Rishard Matthews (back), linebacker Koa Misi (knee), defensive end Derrick Shelby (ankle), and running back Daniel Thomas (ribs) joined Wilson as full participants in the non-existent practice.
Both teams will issue their final injury reports today. Kickoff is at 1pm ET on Sunday.