CHARLOTTE -Time will tell if Greg Olsen will be able to play Sunday in New Orleans when the Panthers and Saints square off for first place in the NFC South. The Panthers brought Olsen, who hadn't played since breaking his foot in Week 2, off injured reserve last Friday and planned to ease him back into the lineup Sunday against the Jets. For two quarters, everything went according to plan, but Olsen ultimately left the game in the third quarter after feeling soreness in his right foot.

"He got sore," head coach Ron Rivera said Monday. "He came in at halftime and was sore. They examined him and said if you want to go back out and give it a shot, go ahead. He came out and gave it a shot. Realistically he told us it was sore, and they shut him down."

In his brief return, Olsen played 24 snaps and Newton seemingly didn't shy away from targeting the Pro Bowl tight end. While Olsen only hauled in one completion, the quarterback did look his way four times and nearly picked him out for his first touchdown of 2017.

"It's unfortunate," Rivera said. "We had Greg running a corner route and (Cam) just barely overthrew him by a yard. Again, I think it's one of those things if they had the timing down together with one another, that's a touchdown."

For Newton, the missed throw wasn't an anomaly. He completed less than 40 percent of his passes, but like Olsen, Newton was dealing with a thumb injury he'd been nursing during the week.

"Yes and that's possibly why the ball sailed a little bit on him," Rivera when asked if Newton's injury affected his accuracy. "We'll see how it is on Wednesday obviously. It is getting better. He struggled with it a bit on Wednesday, Thursday it looked better and Friday it looked much better. Again, he made good decisions and handled things pretty well. I think he's in a situation where it's getting better, and we'll see how he responds to treatment he's getting today and tomorrow."

Elsewhere from the infirmary, cornerback Daryl Worley, who finished the game, left Metlife Stadium in a walking boot and was set to have his foot further examined Monday.

Wide receiver Damiere Byrd, on the other hand, is inching closer to returning to the lineup. Rivera hopes the Panthers can activate the speedy wide receiver - who suffered a broken arm in Week 4 - off injured reserve Friday.

"It's pointing that direction as long as we come out of this week healthy," Rivera said.

Rivera added that cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, who didn't practice last week because of an illness and didn't travel to New York, was back in the building Monday. "Captain was here and was virus free," Rivera said. "I still refuse to hug him, but he was back and we expect to have Captain ready to roll."