After Carolina posted a 2-15 record in 2023 and No. 1 draft pick Bryce Young posted the worst passing-efficiency rating in the NFL as a rookie, the Panthers hired Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales to put the former Alabama All-American quarterback in position to succeed in 2024.
But two games into Canales’ tenure, Carolina has had two anemic offensive performances.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Panthers 26-3 as the Carolina offense gained 159 yards in the game.
After Sunday’s loss, Canales expressed confidence in Young when asked if he considered pulling the young QB for veteran backup Andy Dalton.
“Bryce is our quarterback,” Canales said. “We’re going to just continue to shore up and fix the things we need to fundamentally from a scheme standpoint, all those things. These are all valuable reps; these are all valuable games. We’ll learn a lot from this game, and, hopefully, we’ll take another step this week.”
Young completed 18-of-26 passes for 84 yards with no touchdowns and one interception against the Chargers.
In a 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints last week, Young completed of 13-of-30 passes for 161 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Confident,” Young said after the game when asked to assess his confidence. “I draw my confidence from the Lord, so I’m very blessed, and I’m grateful for this challenge. Not ideal start, but God does everything for a reason, so I have a faith in that.”
Carolina converted 1-of-12 third-down snaps into a first down against Los Angeles after the Panthers went 1-of-10 on third down last week against New Orleans. Meanwhile, Carolina’s two opponents have converted 16 of their 29 third-down snaps into first downs.
“It really just came down to third down again,” Canales said. “Offensively, defensively, just not acceptable from a coaching standpoint, from a player standpoint. All of us, we all have to take our responsibility in the third down so that we can get more opportunities to run the ball, to throw our actions, to do those things that we really want to do and that we see ourselves heading towards, so we really didn’t give us a chance there.”
Against the Chargers, Young completed 4-of-8 third-down passes for 12 yards and 2-of-3 fourth-down passes for 17 yards. Only one of the passes produced a first down.
Young’s longest completion on Sunday gained 12 yards, and Carolina had only one other pass that gained 10 yards.
“I trust Coach’s game plan,” Young said about the number of checkdown passes against Los Angeles. “We just got to do a better job of executing it. Again, got all the faith in the world and coach and the stuff we’re putting in, stuff we’re calling. It’s just starts with me. Have to do a better job of executing, and then all of us as players, we have to do a better job. …
“This is obviously tough times, but I think it’s a great opportunity for us and our relationship and the entire team to grow during tough times. That’s also part of it that comes from it. So again, I’m super grateful for coach, and we all want to do a better job executing for him and for the entire team.”
The Panthers play the Las Vegas Raiders at 3:05 p.m. CDT Sept. 22 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Canales said Carolina would stay the course to work toward a win.
“It’s trusting the process,” Canales said. “ It’s going right back to work. It’s watching the film and improving the fundamental things that we can control and, again, just honing in on things that we feel like we can execute. So really the process won’t change. It’s got to be that type of focus — intentionality.
“It requires a lot of discipline to continue to stay with the process that we have in place and how to work and how to go about it. And until I call a perfect game, until anybody plays a perfect game, we have things to work on as a group, and so this is a very accountable group from a staff and player standpoint, so we’ll keep just staying together and working on the issues that we need to address.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
