Carolina's coach discusses offensive play-calling during Monday's loss at San Francisco. By Mike Kaye
Dave Canales opened his postgame press conference Monday night disappointed but resolute.
“Just a game of missed opportunities,” the Carolina Panthers’ head coach said before being prompted by any question.
He’s right.
The Panthers fell to the San Francisco 49ers on the road, 20-9, despite seeing their defense earn three interceptions in the first half — two of which yielded the ball on the good side of the 50-yard line. The loss, in a more general sense, also represented a larger missed opportunity: The Panthers remain a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South; a win could’ve awarded them sole possession of the division lead for the first time in a long time.
Monday’s loss in the ESPN spotlight came by vice of a regression from quarterback Bryce Young, who finished 18 of 29 for 169 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions. It also wasn’t helped by a rushing attack that felt underused: Rico Dowdle only notched six rushes — and still earned 38 yards, 6.3 yards per carry — and Chuba Hubbard only ran it thrice for 16 yards.
And that’s not to mention the powerhouse performance that San Francisco running back (and former Panthers star) Christian McCaffrey ended up delivering. How good was he? He finished with 24 carries for 89 yards and one touchdown rushing and added on seven receptions for 53 yards receiving. Another ho-hum, 142-yards-from-scrimmage day.
Canales expounded on all of this and more postgame. Here’s a recap of what he had to say.
Head coach Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers looks on in the second quarter of Monday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images
Dave Canales’ opening statement
“Just a game of missed opportunities. Our defense was putting us in some great situations with the interceptions and not coming away with points. Having an interception on one of those things really hurt us. Some basic things: a couple of penalties put us in long drives, a drop on third down, it really just comes down to fundamental execution, and things that were moving in the right direction, but we didn’t take that step today that I was looking for collectively as a group.
“The defense battled. And they kept us in it, gave us some opportunities there, and then we turned it over again at the end with an opportunity to make the game close there at the end.”
On play-call from the 1-yard line to throw instead of run
“It was a great action. (Young) had Mitch (Evans) open in the back half. And there’s an option he can take off and run it into the front pylon. He saw Mitch, and right when he turns back in, they had a defender on the edge who popped out and intercepted. (The defender) made a great play on the ball. But we’ve been running the ball there in that situation. I felt like we had another chance to run it if we didn’t get the completion on that role. But I like the call. It was an aggressive call that we had opportunities on, and unfortunately came out with an interception.”
On if Tommy Tremble and Evans were supposed to be in the same vicinity: “I haven’t gotten a clear (look). I will be able to tell you more about that once I look at the film. ... No, (they’re) not to be in the same area.”
Why only 9 carries by Panthers running backs?
“I just felt like building off what happened last week, and just taking a step forward with the pass game, I saw some opportunities. We were protecting pretty well, as far as pass protection goes. And it just felt like we didn’t come away with our opportunities consistently enough early on. And then in the second half, at a certain point, when the score becomes what it is, it’s like, ‘OK, we’re in a two-score game, we gotta move it a little bit here and throw the ball around.’ And we had some measure of success that way. And the run game seemed to be hitting pretty good. But it was trying to take advantage: They were playing some loaded boxes. They did a good job with their disguises in some of those areas too.”
Head coach Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers reacts in the second quarter of Monday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images
How 49ers were able to take away Panthers tight ends
“Again, at a glance, I thought we had some opportunities and some one-on-one matchups outside. And we made some. But not consistent enough.”
How much did lopsided time of possession — 22:18 to 37:42 — play a factor into injuries on the field?
“I don’t know how much of a factor it was that way. But I know they did a great job making first downs and finding early successes on third down. They took the ball down the field on third downs. They were pretty much perfect in that area. And we did a really solid job against the run game. But as the game goes on, and because we weren’t able to sustain drives offensively, we were leaving our defense out there a long time. And they started making extra yards after that with two good solid backs.”
What happened with Jaycee Horn’s head injury?
“It didn’t present as a head injury initially. And then once he came in for the half, that’s when it started to really materialize, so when he came out, and he was feeling nauseous and all that, those are signs that our training staff took and said, ‘OK, we gotta make sure we do a further evaluation on that.’”
Decision to go for 57-yard field goal late in fourth quarter
“If we could get it past the 40 and give Ryan (Fitzgerald) to get a field goal there, kick them back deep. We had timeouts, so let’s see if we can get a stop, which our defense ended up getting a stop after that. So the goal was to do that, get the ball back and see if we can go down to tie it up.”
On Tre’Von Moehrig hitting Jauan Jennings low, leading to postgame scuffle
“I’ll get to the bottom of that. I want to see what exactly happened. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Tre about that yet. As you know, we’ve just been kind of talking to the team and wrapping up the day. But that’ll be a conversation I’ll dig into. ... I’ll talk to him tonight. And I’ll have a chance right now to look at the film and see what happened.”
On Bryce Young’s struggles vs. 49ers
“The full group’s execution, and just making sure we’re on the same page with the calls that are coming in and out. The timing and rhythm. Making sure he’s getting his throws off the right way. Making sure guys are running the right routes at the right depth. Those are all the things that we’re just hammering on as a group. And we gotta make sure we regroup quickly this week and get to the bottom of the execution part of it.”
Head coach Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers and quarterback Bryce Young speak with side judge Lo van Pham in the second quarter of Monday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images
On falling short on prime time stage
“We just have to be able to carry our execution regardless of where it’s at, what time it’s played, who the opponent is. We have to focus on those things and make sure that we come out of the game with good football. And I didn’t think we did that collectively. There were spots. There was some really good football played in areas, but certainly from an offensive standpoint with the penalties, putting us into some bad situations on some first-and-20s, and things like that, it gets harder. So those are some of the things we’re talking about. And just the basics of it: the blocking, throwing and catching, the things we have to come back to and improve.”
How confident do you feel in your ability to handle situational football, as well as play-calling?
“I have a lot of good help, but again this is a collective thing, and it starts with me, and I have to make sure we’re all taking that information and making it come alive. And having a good attack. ... I gotta do whatever it takes to make sure they’re ready to go, and we have a modified week this week. So we have to be able to take the lessons from this and move on quickly. We have everything still right in front of us. We have to understand that. But the only way we’re going to make it happen is by playing good, fundamental football.”