The Carolina Panthers couldn’t get things going against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. They lost 20-9 against the NFC West franchise at Levi’s Stadium, dropping to 6-6 and missing out on a big chance to become the leaders of the NFC South division.
Quarterback Bryce Young went 18 of 29 for 169 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Running back Rico Dowdle failed to make an impact, carrying the ball six times for 38 yards. Dowdle tweeted a confused emoji to express his disappointment with the development of the game.
Dowdle’s social media action drew a lot of attention, with people wondering if that could result in a big issue for the Panthers. The former Dallas Cowboys player revealed Dave Canales took ownership for not relying on the running game during the 49ers game, but that wasn’t the end of the conversation.
Bryce Young reacts to Rico Dowdle’s emoji
Young shared his thoughts on Dowdle’s social media activity, saying that everybody on the team is focused on the same goal and they are working to achieve it.
“Yeah, [the conversation] wasn’t about that specifically. Rico is competitive and obviously wants to win,” Young said. “We always want to win. We didn’t get that done. We all have a competitive spirit. We talked about the game and the game plan, and stuff like that is in-house. We don’t discuss that on social media, so that’ll be our focus.”
The Panthers still have chances to win the NFC South, but they need to win games with consistency. They will clash against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.