Post Game Press Conference – Panthers HC Dave Canales

PANTHERS HEAD COACH DAVE CANALES

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

August 8, 2024

DC: First of all, I just want to say just how excited I was. Tonight was about our first-time guys, the rookies, the guys who haven’t had a chance to play in the NFL. I think what they found is it’s just football. They ran, they played hard. We had some great tackling, some great hitting. We desperately needed that this time of year, to go full live all the way to the ground. I mean, I’ll take a look at the film and kind of see what it was, but I didn’t see a lot of missed tackles. I saw some really physical play from the defensive side. Offensively, we played hard, played physical, but the execution just wasn’t there. We put ourselves behind the sticks a bunch with some pre-snap penalties, holding calls, things like that that I think we’re going to have to work through. But when that happens, it just makes everything so much harder. What we’d like is to be able to have those downs, be able to mix things more and to sustain drives. That’s something we’ve got to do. I thought the kicking units covered great. It was really fun to see the kick return and just the possibilities of what that can become. Again, I’ve just got to tip my hat to the Patriots. They played hard as well. They played cleaner football. I think we had nine penalties to their six, so we gave them that advantage right there from a field position standpoint, which put a couple points on the board for them. Just all in all, just for me, it was just a great opportunity to be able to talk to the coaches, talk to the officials, kind of have those conversations. We had a chance to replay one, which George Lee upstairs helping me with that was great. So, it was just great reps for me to just get the flow of how the communication happens and being able to work off of that.

Q: Dave, obviously, not playing your starters was a conscious decision. How do you evaluate the game as a whole knowing you kind of went in shorthanded that way?

DC: Oh, I think just valuable reps, right? For these guys, the opportunity to play this many snaps in a preseason game for the guys that were up for this game, it’s invaluable. Jack Plummer getting out there; he had a rough night but it was just such – it’s his first NFL game, and hopefully, we’ll get to the point where we can show him the film and just kind of show him, ‘Hey man, trust your preparation, trust your timing from practice,’ and just to stay composed as the game goes along. He was able to put a good drive together, but then we had the grounding penalty that kind of kicked us out of that advantageous field position that we had. So, I just love the opportunity it gives for a lot of the guys for us to evaluate them.

Q: You get the Jets coming in next week. How much do you weigh those snaps versus getting your regulars into a game?

DC: Well, the joint practice is going to be a fantastic opportunity. We’re still going to have to evaluate – because of just sheer numbers, we have to evaluate who we want playing in this game. We got thin; we finish with five offensive linemen in this game. I’ve got to tip my had to those guys up front, just hanging in there for the whole second half, and some of them played the whole game. So again, invaluable reps to kind of feel some of the parts of our system, the different calls. But I just love those guys for doing that, for being able to just hang tight and work through it all the way.

Q: Did something happen to Cade [Mays] along the way? I didn’t hear an injury report.

DC: Yeah, Cade had a little bit of a shoulder injury. They’re still checking that out and evaluating it. We’ll have more information.

Q: How much did that impact things? I mean, even with everybody healthy you went into that game with seven offensive linemen. That’s basically one fewer than you would probably go into a regular season game with. How does that complicate what you’re able to do?

DC: It does, for sure. So, that’s some of the conversations we’re going to have to have as far as who plays this week.

Q: Nash [Jensen] was inactive tonight.

DAVE CANALES: Yeah. So, Nash and his wife are having a child, so he stayed back, he stayed home to do that. I thought that was really important for him to be there to be with his wife, just a special moment that only comes around every once in a while. So, for him to be able to do that was great, and again, just a tip of the cap for the guys that were able to stand in in his stead. I thought Andrew Raym, our center –rookie center – came in and did a really good job right there.

Q: You had a couple guys on defense that seemed to make some plays in the first half particularly: [Ikem] Ekwonu and Lamar Jackson. I mean, could you talk about what they were able to offer on a night when it’s a little bit of a mixed bag?

DC: Yeah, Ekwonu, it just starts with strain. He played so hard tonight, was playing physical and again, I’ve got to look at the film to see what the whole story was, but the effort was there. The style of play was fantastic. Lamar made the most of the opportunities he was given, and he made some great plays for us. He had a couple of nice tackles and hits out there, too, so he really showed something and showed us something about him.

Q: Harrison [Mevis] got that last field goal. Is the idea to alternate him and Eddie [Piñeiro] if you were in more than one kicking situation?

DAVE CANALES: It was first half, second half, kind of set up that way. I wish I could have got Eddie an opportunity, but we just weren’t flipping the field offensively.

Was there anything – I mean, you were still yourself, upbeat and everything on the sidelines during that game. Is it important for you to show the kind of consistency to the guys on a night when it’s raining, it’s preseason, regulars aren’t playing?

DAVE CANALES: Yeah. Consistency is everything. I want them to know I’m for them. I have their back and really just pushing for the style of play, the great effort. It was there. The enthusiasm was there. The guys that didn’t play were engaged. They were celebrating their teammates when they made plays. I love that. The toughness was there. The playing smart part of our style, I don’t think we got that one done offensively, just with how many penalties we had and just how difficult we made it on an already pretty difficult night there. The finish, for Jake [Luton] to come in with that last group, take us down the field, get the ball to some of our players in their hands and get us down there where we could get on the board was a really good feeling, Just be able to stay with it, guys. We’re playing for 60 minutes or however long it takes, so I love the finish there.

Q: Did anything happen here tonight that maybe caused you to reconsider the way you want to deploy guys the next two games?

DC: It could. I’ll watch the film, we’ll look at the numbers we have coming out of this and then we’ll make decisions this week.

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