WATCH: Matt Barkley Punts For Bills in Place of Matt Araiza

The Bills were forced to improvise at punter on Friday.

Backup quarterback Matt Barkley took over punting duties for the Buffalo Bills on Friday in their preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers. 

Barkley, engaged in a battle with fellow journeyman thrower Case Keenum in the battle to be Josh Allen's understudy, is set to serve in the role after rookie Matt Araiza was a late scratch from the contest in the wake of gang rape allegations. Araiza was previously awarded the primary punter's job, beating out veteran incumbent Matt Haack, who has since been released and signed by Indianapolis. 

Buffalo brought Araiza to Charlotte, where kickoff was delayed but just over a half hour due to lightning storms but he did was take the field with the other Bills specialists, including kicker Tyler Bass and long snapper Reid Ferguson. Bass had five attempts during his college career at Georgia Southern but the job eventually went to Barkley, who wound up being called upon after the team's first possession. Buffalo has opted to rest numerous starters in Friday's preseason finale, putting Keenum on the field during the opening possession.

All in all, Barkley put up a respectable effort in his first boot, especially with no attempts on even a pooch kick during his college days at USC or his NFL career that began in 2013 with Philadelphia. Alas, that wasn't enough to keep Carolina out of the end zone as they wound up scoring on a 12-play, 53-yard drive that ended with Baker Mayfield's scoring toss to D'Onta Foreman. 

Having apparently gotten the hang of it on the first go-around, Barkley's second attempt was quite lucrative, booting the ball 53 yards and pinning Carolina inside its own eight-yard-line.

The Panthers lead Buffalo 7-0 in the latter stages of the first quarter.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags