Focus on QB Andy Dalton as Panthers visit the Raiders looking for first win of the season

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Focus on QB Andy Dalton as Panthers visit the Raiders looking for first win of the season

2024-09-20 03:47 Last Updated At：03:50

Carolina (0-2) at Las Vegas (1-1)

Sunday, 4:05 p.m. EDT, CBS

BetMGM NFL odds: Raiders by 5.

Series record: Raiders lead 4-3.

Against the spread: Carolina 0-2; Las Vegas 1-1.

Last meeting: Raiders beat the Panthers 34-30 on Sept. 13, 2020, in Charlotte.

Last week: Panthers lost to the Chargers 26-3; Raiders beat the Ravens 26-23.

Panthers offense: overall (32), rush (29), pass (31), scoring (32)

Panthers defense: overall (25), rush (31), pass (9), scoring (32)

Raiders offense: overall (22), rush (32), pass (7T), scoring (20T)

Raiders defense: overall (23), rush (29), pass (15), scoring (19T)

Turnover differential: Panthers minus-1; Raiders minus-3.

QB Andy Dalton. All eyes will be on Dalton, who takes over for 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, who was benched by first-year head coach Dave Canales on Monday after two disappointing starts. Dalton started one game for an injured Young last season and had a huge statistical game, completing 34 of 58 passes for 361 yards with two touchdowns, although the Panthers lost 37-27 at Seattle. Still it was one of Carolina’s bests offensive outputs of a season which ended with a 2-15 record. Dalton is 83-78-2 as a career starter with 246 touchdown passes and 144 interceptions.

RB Zamir White entered the season with the onus of trying to follow Josh Jacobs, who just two years after leading the NFL in rushing signed with the Packers. White also bore the burden of playing behind an offensive line that is still trying to find itself. Nevertheless, if the Raiders want to have much success this season, White — who has rushed for 68 yards through two games — has to get going.

Dalton vs. Raiders defense: Look for plenty of play-action passes by the Panthers, which plays to the 14-year veteran quarterback’s strengths. Dalton is 447 of 692 passing (64.6%) for 5,404 yards with 32 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on play-action passes since 2016, per NextGen Stats.

Panthers DT Shy Tuttle is dealing with a foot injury and his status is unclear for Sunday. ... Raiders LB Divine Deablo (oblique/concussion) and CB Decamerion Richardson (hamstring) did not practice Wednesday. Tyree Wilson didn’t play Sunday at Baltimore because of a knee injury, but returned to practice this week. DE Maxx Crosby (ankle) and DT Christian Wilkins (knee) were limited but expected to play.

The Raiders' first game as Las Vegas' team was at Carolina in 2000. Jacobs' 6-yard touchdown run with 4:08 left put the Raiders ahead for good after the Panthers had rallied from 12 points down with two TDs in the fourth quarter. ... The past two meetings have been especially high scoring with the Raiders edging Carolina by a combined 69-62.

The Panthers have the worst record in the league since 2018 at 31-70. ... RB Chuba Hubbard had 64 yards rushing on 10 carries in the team’s loss to the Chargers and appears to have a firm grasp on the starting job. ... Dalton has 32 games with at least 300 yards passing in his career. ... Young will serve as Dalton’s backup. ... WR Diontae Johnson, who was brought in to be Carolina’s No. 1 receiver, has just five catches for 34 yards through two games. ... WR Adam Thielen, Carolina’s other starter, has been held to five receptions for 69 yards. ... The Panthers defense has allowed five passing TDs in two games, second most in the league behind the Commanders (6). ... Carolina has scored three points in its past two road games going back to last season. ... Brock Bowers' 156 yards receiving leads all tight ends. ... Gardner Minshew has completed 55 of 71 passes, his 77.5% tops the league. ... Davante Adams is 50 yards from becoming the 17th player to reach 11,000 receiving yards. ... Maxx Crosby is three sacks from moving into third place in Raiders history. Anthony Smith is in that spot with 57 1/2 sacks. ... Daniel Carlson made all four field-goal attempts against the Ravens, including both kicks from beyond 50 yards. He is 27 of 34 from that distance for his career. Carlson's 38-yard field goal with 27 seconds provided Las Vegas with the winning points. He has made 17 of 20 field goals in the final two minutes or overtime since becoming a Raider in 2018.

Thielen seemed to have good chemistry with Dalton last season. In Dalton’s only start in Week 3 of the 2023 season, he was 11 of 14 passing for 145 yards and one touchdown when targeting Thielen.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Here's a look at the $100 billion in disaster relief in the government spending bill

2024-12-22 00:47 Last Updated At：00:50

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid designed to address extensive damage caused by disasters after this week's scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill.

The money comes after back-to-back hurricanes — Helene and Milton — slammed into the southeastern United States this fall, leaving havoc in their wake. But the money would go to much more than just those two storms under the bill signed Saturday by President Joe Biden that keeps the federal government funded through March 14.

The disaster funding looked set to pass earlier this week until President-elect Donald Trump issued new demands that tanked a compromise and threatened a pre-Christmas federal shutdown. A slimmed-down version cleared Congress early Saturday when Republicans abandoned Trump's core request.

Here's a look at what's in the bill for disaster relief and where the money will go:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund is essentially the country's checkbook for emergencies. Out of it, the government reimburses states and local governments for things such as removing debris accumulated after hurricanes or overtime costs for firefighters and police who work during disasters.

It also includes money for individual residents, ranging from the $750 payments that disaster survivors can get to $42,500 that some uninsured homeowners can receive to help them rebuild.

Esther Manheimer, mayor of Asheville, the largest city in the North Carolina mountains that was hard hit by Helene, said city officials were pleased to see th additional disaster dollars.

It’s only been four weeks since Asheville residents could drink from and bathe in the water coming out of their faucets. Some businesses in western North Carolina have shuttered permanently or are struggling to survive, and well over 200 roads in the region remain closed.

In a statement earlier in the week, Manheimer emphasized that it was still going to be a long recovery and that "already we see the long-term economic, budgetary and employment impact Helene left in her wake.”

The disaster relief fund was nearly running on fumes after Helene and Milton. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell warned during a Senate hearing in November that the fund was down to $5 billion.

The Biden administration had asked Congress for about $40 billion for the relief fund but the bill eventually passed provides a lower amount, $29 billion.

It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t the only money for the disaster relief fund, said Stan Gimont, a senior adviser for community recovery at Hagerty Consulting. He used to run the community development block grant program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

More money can and likely will be designated to the fund later when Congress does a full-year appropriation, he said.

There's also about $21 billion in disaster assistance to help farmers.

North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said earlier this week that he was pleased by the agricultural aid but that the state has a lot of specialty crops such as sweet potatoes and Christmas trees that are generally not covered by federal programs. He said he will have to wait and see what specifically ends up being covered.

“We are still evaluating the bill as there are a lot of nuances in it. The devil is in the details," he said.

Other money will go toward rebuilding damaged roads and highways ($8 billion), while more money (about $12 billion) would go toward helping communities recover through HUD grants.

The block grant money is one of the key funds for homeowners who don’t have insurance or enough insurance to recover from disasters.

There’s also $2.2 billion for low-interest loans for businesses, nonprofits and homeowners trying to rebuild after a disaster.

But the money doesn't go just toward local residents.

For example, there's money for the military to address damage from hurricanes and typhoons and for a new hurricane hunter — the planes used to research hurricanes — and funds to help NASA rebuild hurricane-damaged facilities.

No. The money goes to cover more than those two disasters.

Some of the money is specifically earmarked for certain projects such as $1.5 billion designated for assistance after the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history — the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire — and the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

But a lot of the money also goes more generally toward major disasters that happened in recent years.

The types of disasters covered in the legislation include droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, and smoke exposure.

Gimont points out that disaster recovery can take a long time so the country is both paying for disasters that happened previously while it prepares for events that will happen in the future.

Take the massive Maui fire, for instance. It decimated the Hawaiian town of Lahaina last year, but Gimont said just the cleanup itself extended into late summer 2024.

Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.