CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle said he isn’t concerned about if he’ll start or who’ll see the bulk of the carries on Sunday against the New York Jets.
He understands the situation.
Dowdle is coming off two career games in which he racked up 389 yards on the ground and 473 yards from scrimmage. But Chuba Hubbard is set to return this week from a calf injury after missing two games.
Hubbard has been the team's starting running back the past two seasons. He earned a $33 million contract after rushing for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 TDs in 2024.
Panthers coach Dave Canales hasn't said who is going to start this weekend. But he made it clear Dowdle will have a chance to have a big impact as the Panthers (3-3) look to earn their first road win this season.
“I think he’s earned everything that he’s done in the last two weeks,” Canales said of Dowdle. “He’s earned the right to help this team, and he will. We’ll find a way to do that. How we do that specifically, I don’t wanna really share those details of it.”
Dowdle shrugged off talk of who'll be the primary ball carrier.
“It’s all up to the coaches about what goes on,” Dowdle said. "Obviously Chuba's been here and he’s got his contract and things like that, and it’s been his team from the jump, so you got to just take all that into account for sure."
Dowdle ran for 23 times for 206 yards against the Miami Dolphins, then dominated his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, for 183 yards on the ground on 30 carries.
Dowdle acknowledged there's definitely something to be said about the importance of a running back getting into a rhythm as the game goes on, but added that he doesn't think that will be an issue in Carolina. He was quick to point out that he cramped up in the fourth quarter of the past two home games, so having others who can handle the load will help.
Trevor Etienne has been his primary backup the past two games, although DeeJay Dallas has seen time, too.
“The way I think we’ll do it, I don’t think it’ll be hard to get into a rhythm at all, especially the way those guys blocking up front," Dowdle said.
Both running backs have been in this situation before.
Hubbard found himself in a split-back system in 2022 in Carolina when he shared reps with D'Onta Foreman, while Dowdle found himself splitting carries with Ezekiel Elliott early last season with the Cowboys.
Hubbard knows the running-back playing time is clearly the topic of the week connected to the team, but he's not concerning himself too much with how things will shake out against the Jets, who are ranked 23rd in the league in run defense, allowing 130 yards per game.
The two share a friendship, and Hubbard has regularly been the first one to congratulate Dowdle on the sideline when he comes off the field following a big run.
“Rico has done an amazing job,” Hubbard said. “He’s showing his best with the opportunity that he has been given. I know he will do that over and over again this season.”
As for his own desire to recapture the starting job, Hubbard said his focus is on what is best for the team.
“I mean in all honesty, all my career, all I know is work, work, work,” Hubbard said. “That’s what I pride myself on regardless of the situation that’s going on around me. I control what I control. Obviously the biggest thing for me is winning games and however that looks and whatever that takes, I’m all in.”
Notes: Outside linebacker Pat Jones will miss the remainder of the season with a lower back injury, Canales said. Jones played the entire game on Sunday against the Cowboys, but started to feel pain the following day and went to see the medical staff. Canales would not say who'll start in Jones' spot moving forward.
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Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle carries the ball in the second half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
NEW YORK (AP) — Incendiary internal messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” have been made public as over two dozen states weigh whether to continue their antitrust trial against the entertainment giant and its subsidiary Ticketmaster.
The messages from late 2021 through early 2023 on the online work messaging platform Slack were highlighted late Wednesday in a filing by government lawyers released in the public court record. The lawyers insist the messages should be evidence in the week-old trial in Manhattan federal court against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
At the trial, lawyers for the federal government and 39 states and the District of Columbia say Live Nation and Ticketmaster were squelching competition and driving up prices for fans through threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The companies insist that artists, sports teams and venues set prices and decide how tickets are sold.
The government lawyers wrote that the statements should be part of the trial because they are “candid, internal messages" in which Ben Baker “calls fans ‘so stupid,’ explains that he ‘gouge(s)’ them, and brags that Live Nation is ‘robbing them blind, baby.’"
In the submission to Judge Arun Subramanian, the lawyers noted that Baker made the statements while he was a regional director of ticketing with responsibility for a large amphitheater in Florida but has since been promoted to head of ticketing for Venue Nation with responsibilities relating to all of Live Nation's venues.
They said the employees were discussing Live Nation's price for access to the VIP area of a show at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa when Baker wrote that the prices are “outrageous,” that “these people are so stupid” and that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them” before writing, “BAHAHAHAHAHA.”
Live Nation wants the exhibits disqualified from the trial, saying the messages reflect “off-the-cuff banter, not policy” between two personal friends who do not work together.
The company's lawyers wrote that the exhibits don't relate to the antitrust claims. They said the employees were making “passing references to non-ticket ancillary products — such as VIP club access, premier parking, or lawn chair rentals — sold to concertgoers at two amphitheaters” in Florida and Virginia.
But lawyers for the plaintiff states and U.S. government wrote that “excessive prices for ancillary services are directly relevant” to their claims and that “ancillaries are a significant way that Live Nation monetizes its monopoly position in the amphitheater market.”
In a statement Thursday, the company said the Slack exchange “from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn't reflect our values or how we operate.”
The company added: “Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly.”
The arguments regarding the exhibits were made after Bloomberg News, The New York Times and MLex, a publication which covers legal and regulatory matters, and Inner City Press requested their release.
The trial’s status is up in the air after the federal government announced this week it was settling with Live Nation in a deal that would give Live Nation's competitors some access to ticket sales they are currently excluded from.
Lawyers for more than two dozen states have asked that the ongoing trial be scrapped and that a new jury be chosen in the weeks ahead. A jury that began hearing evidence last week was told to stay home this week with the expectation the trial would resume on Monday.
Meanwhile, Subramanian encouraged lawyers for the states and Live Nation to negotiate this week before telling him late Friday whether they've reached a deal.
Although the parties were not speaking publicly about the progress of any talks, a lawyer for Live Nation indicated at a court hearing Tuesday that there was no realistic chance of a fast deal with all states.
In a letter to the judge Thursday, a states' lawyer signaled the trial was likely to resume, saying the judge needed to rule on whether the Slack message exhibits can be shown to the jury because his decision will have a “material impact” on which witnesses the states call to testify as the states “prepare to resume trial next week.”
FILE - The seal of the Dept of Justice is shown on the podium, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - The Ticketmaster logo is seen along the sideline of the field before an NFL football game, Sept. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
