Week 1 of the NFL gave us one of the biggest blowouts of the season as the Carolina Panthers faced off against the New Orleans Saints. Quarterback Bryce Young was a key point of criticism following the loss, but head coach Dave Canales shifted the focus to other factors contributing to the defeat.
Selected with the number 1 pick in the 2023 draft from the University of Alabama, Young remains a key player for the Panthers‘ offense. The team has been striving for years to make a deep playoff run and return to the Super Bowl.
The tough loss to the Saints cast Bryce Young as a key factor in the team’s collapse, though the head coach, in the press conference, shifted the focus elsewhere and pointed someone else: “[H]onestly, it’s on the coaching staff. It’s on us.
“We sat there like we were sitting ducks. We didn’t do enough to put our guys — to give them simpler solutions in some of those. This is one of the best third-down pressure packages that you’re going to go against. We saw it Week 1. We’ve been against it before. We had a plan. [Dennis Allen] had counters. We got out coached in that regard. I take that personal,” Canales stated.
“There was one that Bryce could have seen, and he could have flipped the protection. He’s been fantastic doing that. That’s the only one I would say that he could have really fixed the problem. [The Saints] gave us issues with what they did. We need to do better than that. That’s coaching.”
Canales takes responsibility for the mistakes
Canales, who had an extensive tenure with the Seattle Seahawks in various roles and also served as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is making his debut as a head coach in the NFL with a somewhat unwelcome start.
During an insightful press conference following the Panthers’ decisive 47-10 loss to the Saints, Coach Canales absolved Young of the blame and took responsibility for making decisions that didn’t benefit the team.
“For me, I take it personal any time that I feel like I’m putting our players at a disadvantage where they don’t have simple solutions,” Canales said.
Head Coach Canales shared his thoughts on Young’s footwork during the game
One of the key points the coach emphasized was the quarterback’s footwork, an area where Canales was confident he could make the necessary improvements to make big results.
“As we went through the grades, looking at his footwork and the discipline of it, it was there,” Canales said. “I think he missed a couple of throws. I think that he’s learning some of his guys, and we’ve gotten all these reps and we’ve got to keep accumulating those reps. But what I saw from him was just kind of missing a few of his opportunities that he had there, and I also have to give the Saints credit for covering us really well and they made it hard and it forced accurate throws and that’s something that we have to make sure we cash in on when we have those opportunities.”