WATCH: Carolina Panthers Hold a Comically Disastrous Tryout for a Replacement Kicker After Their Starter Gets Hurt

 

On a football team, most teams can adapt to losing just about every player to injury — even quarterbacks. But kickers are pretty irreplaceable. On Sunday, one team found that out the hard way.

During pregame warmups ahead of their matchup with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the Carolina Panthers lost kicker Zane Gonzalez to a quad injury. In this situation, teams typically have their punter handle the placekicking duties. But that was not an option for the Panthers as their punter, Lachlan Edwards, is an Australian-style punter who is not adept at American-style placekicking.

So instead, the Panthers had a bunch of players audition for the job minutes before the start of the game. And you can basically set the resulting footage to Benny Hill music.

Fox captured several players hilariously try (and fail) to fill Gonzalez’s cleats. It didn’t go well. One player just about whiffed, barely catching a piece of the ball. Another kicked a little dribbler just a few yards up the middle.

One suspects the Panthers will cover Gonzalez’s leg in bubble wrap, upon his return.

Watch above, via Fox.

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Joe DePaolo is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: joed@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @joe_depaolo