Needless to say, Dave Canales’ first regular-season game as head coach of the Carolina Panthers didn’t go as he’d wished. But he had to say it anyway.
“Well, certainly not the outcome that I was hoping for,” Canales said to begin his press conference following Sunday’s 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints. “Before I even got to watch the film—I can just talk about three turnovers, in the teens in explosives that we gave up on the defensive side, a blocked punt.
“Those are critical factors. It flips the field, it gives them more possessions. And even when we had our chances, we didn’t get our first completion for a while there. So, just all around, poor execution in all phases.”
Carolina’s offense, the phase Canales specializes in, never hit their stride in Week 1—converting on just one of their 10 third-down tries. Quarterback Bryce Young, the player who was the main focus in Canales’ hiring, completed just 13 of his 30 passes for 161 yards and two errant interceptions.
The defense wasn’t much better, if at all—allowing the Saints to score on each one of their first nine possessions. New Orleans’ 47 points ended up as a franchise record for a season-opening contest.
But no matter how badly the Panthers got beat, the bottom line is that they got beat.
“A loss is a loss,” Canales replied when asked about moving on from the blowout. “The nature of the loss—it matters, it’s a factor, we look at it. But whether it was by three points or as much as it was today, you have to just count them as a loss and then move forward to the next challenge. Move forward to growing from the things that we see on film.
“And that was the message I gave to the team. I said, ‘Hey look, in weeks from now, it’s not gonna matter what the score was. We lost. Let’s go to the truth of it and let’s move on.'”
Canales and the Panthers will move on to host the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2.
