this week might be a distraction for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday when they host the New York Giants.Smith said Reid's stance on racial injustice hasn't been an issue in the locker room Womens Austin Carr Jersey , adding that "no one cares" if he kneels or not during the national anthem.He said Reid's new teammates are more eager to see what he does on the field rather than what he does before the game."It's not like he's out there and coach calls 'Cover 3' and he's going to take a knee and let a guy run by him. If that was the issue, it would be a problem," Smith said with a laugh. "But that's not the way it works. Eric knows what is best for Eric and we all know what he is fighting for."Reid, who knelt alongside Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco during the national anthem to bring attention to racial and social injustice, hasn't said if he will demonstrate Sunday in his first game since filing a collusion grievance against the NFL alleging that teams wouldn't sign him because of his protesting.Regardless of Reid's beliefs, the Panthers (2-1) are excited to have the 2013 Pro Bowler, who is expected to start at safety after Da'Norris Searcy was placed on injured reserve last week with a concussion.Cam Newton said the Panthers "got a steal" when they signed the 26-year-old Reid."He's a great player," Newton said. "We've accepted him with open arms. We know he's going to be an impact player for us, and that's all I care about."Reid, who is African-American, said after signing a one-year contract with Carolina that he plans to "continue to speak for my people" and use his platform to talk about injustices."I'm going to stand by him and none of that will be a distraction as far as us winning football games," Newton said. "What he does on the football field is going to impact this team. I know that."Things to watch in Sunday's game:FAMILIAR FACESWhen Panthers middle linebacker Luke Kuechly turned on the film this week, he saw plenty of familiar plays being run by the Giants. New York's offensive coordinator is Mike Shula, who worked as Carolina's offensive coordinator from 2013-17. So Kuechly saw just about every one of Shula's play calls over the last five years in practice.Of course, what Kuechly didn't see too much of on tape this week were zone read options, something Shula ran frequently with Newton as his quarterback. That's not something the Giants are running with the slow-footed Eli Manning at the helm. "If Eli runs like Cam does, then we are in trouble," Kuechly said.Moving the ball and scoring points has been a struggle this season for the Giants under Shula.ON THE RUNGiants coach Pat Shurmur admittedly didn't use rookie Saquon Barkley enough in the loss to the Saints last weekend. The running game was limited to 65 yards on 15 carries. Barkley had 44 yards on 10 carries, with 28 coming on a sprint around end. New York usually doesn't win unless it can establish some kind of run game to set up the play-action pass. Expect Barkley to either double his carries this week or have backup Wayne Gallman carry more than twice. The Panthers are allowing 110 yards per game on the ground.Jonathan Stewart, Carolina's all-time leading rusher Youth Marcus Williams Jersey , was placed on injured reserve last week by New York.VERNON'S BACKThe Giants are optimistic that outside linebacker Olivier Vernon will see his first action of the season after a strong week of practice. Shurmur thinks that could give the defense a boost, saying "when you have a fresh body that has the talent, the skill and abilities of a pass rusher, it helps your defense. Certainly adding him back to the mix will help."Vernon has 40 陆 sacks over the past five seasons while playing mostly defensive end. He missed the first four games after suffering a high ankle sprain in late August.DEFENDING RUSHING QBSThe Giants' defense has struggled against opposing quarterbacks in the run game. In four games, opposition QBs have gained 151 yards on 20 carries, a 7.55 average. That could be a major problem this week with Newton taking snaps. The 2015 league MVP has carried 28 times for 136 yards and three touchdowns in three games. He has rushed for at least 700 yards in each of the last three seasons, joining Michael Vick as the only NFL quarterbacks with three 700-yard seasons rushing. The Saints used a new wrinkle last weekend against the Giants, having backup quarterback Taysom Hill rush four times for 28 yards.MORE McCAFFREYAided by Newton's skills as a runner , the Panthers have the league's No. 1-ranked rushing offense, while the Giants are 29th against the run. So it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what Carolina wants to do Sunday. Christian McCaffrey is coming off a career-high 184 yards rushing on 28 carries in a 31-21 win against the Bengals before the bye week. But given that offensive coordinator Norv Turner is known to mix things up from week to week, it wouldn't be a shocker if Turner leans a little more heavily on backup running back C.J. Anderson this week.AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan contributed to this report. The bye week is coming at a good time for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who not only are trying to get acclimated to having Jameis Winston back in the lineup, but need to find a way to fix a leaky defense.Coach Dirk Koetter made it official Monday, confirming Winston will start the team's next game 鈥?at Atlanta 鈥?on Oct. 14.The No. 1 overall pick from the 2015 draft missed the first three games of the season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.Ryan Fitzpatrick became the first player in league history to throw for more than 400 yards in three consecutive games while leading the Bucs to a 2-2 start in Winston's absence.The "FitzMagic" show came to a screeching halt this past Sunday, when Tampa Bay fell behind Chicago by 35 points. Winston played the entire second half of the 48-10 loss."Fitz didn't play as well as he had been playing, but it was a 100 percent team deal," Koetter said, reiterating the Bucs were outplayed in every phase of the game."At the same time, Jameis Winston is the guy that's going to be here way longer than I am," the coach added. "He needs to be playing and he will unless he gets hurt."Meanwhile Womens Sheldon Rankins Jersey , Koetter stressed what he has no intentions of doing is firing defensive coordinator Mike Smith.The Bucs have allowed a NFL-high 139 points and rank near the bottom of the league in pass defense."For those people who think snapping your fingers and changing your coordinator a quarter of the way through the season, OK, what would you do after that? If we fired Mike Smith, what would the next move be?" Koetter said."Changing one person, when we had things go wrong at all levels (Sunday). ... We as coaches have got to coach better. That starts with me," Koetter added. "But Mike Smith didn't miss any tackles. He didn't not rush the passer. He didn't blow any coverages. He didn't have any communication errors."The decision to start Winston against the Falcons essentially has been the plan since Koetter learned in late June that Winston would miss the first three games "unless we were playing lights-out in a good way or lights-out in a bad way like (Sunday)."The coach reiterated Fitzpatrick, who's played for seven teams during a 14-year career, did a good job filling in for Winston."We brought Fitz here two years ago to be a mentor to Jameis and a guy who could fill in if Jameis was injured. Both times we asked him to fill in 鈥?a three-game stretch a year ago he went 2-1 and a four-game stretch he led us to 2-2 this year," Koetter said. "Job well done. In fact, excellent. I think any team in the league would take that."Fitzpatrick, 35, said he understands the move."What I said to my Dad after how Week 1 went, and Week 2 and Week 3, was basically ... either I'm going to win the NFL MVP this year or I'll be back on the bench at some point. That's just the reality of the situation," said Fitzpatrick, who's thrown for 1,356 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions."It's not something I necessarily wanted to hear. ... But Jameis is back," Fitzpatrick added. "Jameis is the guy. He's the face of the franchise. He's going to do a great job." Custom Miami Dolphins Jerseys