CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Matt Rhule set the stage to simulate a live game as much as he could.
The Panthers coach called out his field goal units on to the field at the beginning of practice. Eleven on each side. The team's owner, David Tepper and former players, Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen, were in attendance. There were even rented NFL officials signaling makes and misses.
Also watching was the team's newest kicker, Dominik Eberle, signed to put the pressure on Joey Slye.
And everyone saw Slye miss three-straight field goals.
Carolina's struggling kicker did not help himself with the misses, which were all between 40-50 yards. One included a ball clanging off the upright.
Even worse for Slye was that Eberle followed by hitting 2-of-4 attempts.
Slye's woes have been apparent all preseason. He's missed an extra point, and a few short field goals.
In 2020 he hit 80.6% of his field goal attempts, while former Panther, Graham Gano, made 96.9% of his kicks with the Giants.
Slye also missed three extra points in 2020.
"Joey's made 50 kicks in the NFL. He can make kicks," Rhule said. "Sometimes in life you go through a valley and you've got to fight, scratch and claw your way out of it."
After another round of kicking, Slye finished the day 2-of-5, while Eberle was 4-of-5.
Eberle, a Utah State product who spent 2020 on the Raiders practice squad, has never kicked in a regular season NFL game.
He and Slye will have a kick-off of sorts in Friday's preseason finale against Pittsburgh.
Slye's time could be up with another poor performance.
"I believe in Joey Slye," Rhule said. "At the same time we have to continue to bring in competition so we can put what we think is the best opportunity to win out there."
