The Carolina Panthers have doubled their win total from a season ago!
And although that normally wouldn’t be something to go nuts about now, here in Week 16, the way they did so was certainly still worth celebrating.
Head coach Dave Canales spoke with reporters following his team’s 36-30 overtime triumph over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. He began his presser by praising his guys for playing their brand of ball.
“Panthers football,” Canales said with a smile. “We talked about ‘finish,’ and finding a way to finish, do right longer. And the defense found a way in that overtime to have a couple of balls knocked down, a sack, some big things right there.
“And then the offense, of course, just finishing the way we want to. Being able to run the ball with toughness right there. We’re in a great situation for a field goal and Chuba [Hubbard] ends up breaking a few tackles and scoring there.”
“It was a great thing to celebrate with the guys. To reemphasize—playing football right, doing right longer is the way we finish. So was really happy about that.”
The Panthers defense, with about five minutes left in overtime, forced a punt after linebackers D.J. Wonnum and Josey Jewell converged on a sack of Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. Then, with just over four minutes remaining, running back Chuba Hubbard broke off runs of 28 and 21 yards—with the second winding up in the end zone for the victory.
Canales was also asked about the importance of capturing the win in the Panthers’ final home game of the campaign.
“It was great,” he replied. “It was great for us to just be right here, Bank of America Stadium, with our fans here. It was a great showing by the fans. There was some great energy at the end of this finish right here.
“So to be able to show our style, great effort, great enthusiasm, great toughness, playing smart and finish, the final piece of that—it was really special to me so that we can feel what that feels like, to play our brand of football.”
