Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales didn’t have alot to be excited about leaving the team’s preseason game against the Houston Texans on Saturday. The Panthers’ 20-3 loss included dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, a poor showing in the running game, and a missed block that led to quarterback Andy Dalton being injured.
Canales considered giving his offensive starters some more run in the contest after it went three-and-out twice.
“I just wanted them to go out and earn another series,” Canales said, via the Panthers’ official website. “And I just really felt like, with giving them two shots to do it and it not coming up, I wasn’t going to just put them back out there to kind of say, ‘Hey, let’s just play some more football.’
“That, paired with the great work we got two days ago, and you know I just kind of looked at it that way. I felt like the work we got against the Texans in the practice was good enough for me to kind of look at that and wanted them to get the prep and get ready for the game.”
The head coach was brutally honest in his assessment of things after the game.
“A lot of good work out there, but to me, I think to kind of sum it up, it was a day of almosts,” he said. “So I just challenged the group. I was like, are we going to be almost good? Are we going to make the plays when they’re there to be made?
“One for 10 on third down, JT Sanders misses a ball, Bryce hit him right in stride. We got a double move, TMac’s probably going to score a touchdown. We didn’t block Danielle Hunter on the right, he hit Andy in the elbow. And then, Jack Plummer, two interceptions. That makes it a really difficult day.”
Hopefully, the Panthers find a way to get things cleaned up before the regular season arrives in a few weeks.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.