What Dave Canales said after Carolina Panthers’ brutal blowout loss to Saints

The Carolina Panthers were crushed in every way imaginable by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday — from the turnover margin to the game’s total yardage to the 47-10 final score.

In short: The Dave Canales era started with a dud.

Second-year quarterback Bryce Young finished with a career-low 32.8 quarterback rating. His stats: 161 passing yards on 13 of 30 completions and two interceptions. Second year wideout Jonathan Mingo added a lost fumble and another that would’ve been lost if not for him touching the ball while his foot grazed the sideline. And the defense struggled mightily to stop anything, including the deep ball — a trend that started on the first drive, when a coverage breakdown launched Rashid Shaheed into the end zone for an easy score on an easy day for New Orleans.

Still, even after all this, Canales hit on the positives — and the negatives — of Carolina’s Week 1 loss. Here are the highlights of the first-year head coach’s postgame press conference.

Dave Canales: ‘Poor execution in all phases’

“We had our chances. We didn’t get our first completion for a while there. So just all around, poor execution in all phases, particularly when you turn the ball over, and you give that offense chances. And what we found out is that this is a pretty good offense. And we learned a lot about ourselves today. I think it’s a group of guys that haven’t played a lot of football together. The communication, working off each other — that’s all stuff that we gotta get to as we look at the film.

“So for me, the positive I can take out of it is the way that the guys stuck together and just kept playing hard. There’s nothing more I can ask for when you’re faced with a situation where we’re so far behind already in the first half. Can we just keep playing football? And I asked them to do that, and they responded. The defense ran and tackled the whole time at the end. The offense just played all the way through, trying to execute until the very end of the game. So I’m proud of that. I’m proud of these guys.

“Nobody’s turning on each other. None of that. Just guys who were ready to take their responsibility. And for sure, as the head coach, I gotta be the first one to take responsibility and look at what we have to do going forward.”

Could any Week 1 rust be attributed to not playing starters for most of preseason?

“It all matters. It all counts. And so that’s something that we gotta think about. But again, we had an opportunity today to play football. We played a lot of football, particularly on defense. We played a lot of football. So we’ll learn a lot from just being able to get this group together and work off each other.”

Positives in Bryce Young’s performance

“The pre-snap operations. That was kind of my biggest concern. And I thought we did a really good job. We had one delay of game, I think. We were pretty close, up against the clock there a few times. But I think from that standpoint, you know, it gives us a chance with a good starting point to be able to have success in our plays.”

Reliving sequence of Saints’ first-drive TD pass, then Young interception

“When it’s early, I ask the guys to never pass judgment on the outcome of a game based on what happens at the beginning. And so when stuff like that happens early, you’re just like, ‘You know what? This is adversity. We have to rise up. Defense held them to a field goal after that interception. So in that regard, it didn’t feel like a precursor of things to come. It just felt like this was an isolated incident. They had some nice plays. We just had an overthrow to Diontae (Johnson) there, and you move on, and you just keep playing football.”

Processing rough start to the Panthers’ season

“A loss is a loss. And the nature of the loss, it matters, it’s a factor, we look at it, but whether it was by three points or as much as it was today, you have to just count them as a loss and move forward to the next challenge, move forward to growing from the things that we see on film. That was the message I gave to the team. I said, ‘Hey look, this, in weeks from now, it’s not gonna matter what the score was. We lost. Let’s go to the truth of it, and let’s move on.’ So it doesn’t have that carry-over effect.”

Defensive performance after Saints score on first nine possessions

“We have a lot to figure out. We got a lot to work on. Again, can’t speak specifically to anything. We gotta get to the film, see the breakdowns of those different runs and the different actions that got out there.”

With the vast experience new defenders have in this scheme, why the blunders?

“That was something that I was really looking forward to and hoping it came alive. And I still believe it will when you have that many guys that have played a lot of football in this scheme. They’ll figure it out. We’ll get back to the film tomorrow. We’ll be hard on them. Everyone will be hard on themselves. We’ll all take measure of our responsibility.

“For me, ‘What was my approach like offensively to not put us situations to where we have to wait so many drives to get our first completion?’ How can we help the whole situation and system better to find a way to get the ball to our playmakers?”

How to help Young improve, move on from Week 1 loss

“Just make it about the basics. And just look at each play as isolated incidents. Look at the play. What was the breakdown? Was it timing? Was it footwork? Was it protection? There are a lot of factors that go in. And I think that if you can be objective about looking at the breakdown of the play itself, then it allows you to improve. And that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

What to tell Panthers fans who think ‘same old Panthers’?

“It’s a long journey. It’s a long journey to become us. I truly believe that. I knew that whether we started 4-0 or 0-4 or whatever that is, what I knew is, this is going to take a long time to become us. You’ve known me a little bit now, but I just can’t help but know that you have to have adversity to become who you’re gonna be. For guys to pull together, to show their character the way they did in a really tough loss — and call it what it is, it’s one loss — now we have a chance to come back, to tighten things up and to work together.”

Any thoughts on taking Bryce Young out early for Andy Dalton?

“I thought about getting Andy (Dalton) in the drive before. But I was really just trying to get one more shot at, ‘Can we just get our rhythm? Can we get some completions?’ When it didn’t happen, it was very obvious with the score. So I probably could’ve gotten him out there a drive earlier.”

Any injuries?

“We had a couple guys come out and go back in. So they’ll all be evaluated. (Guard) Damien Lewis, out then back in. (Wide receiver) Xavier Legette, out and back in.”

Vibe in the locker room?

“It’s somber. I think that this is a group that takes a lot of pride. They have high hopes of what we’re going to become. And what I’m trying to capitalize on is just the way they’re all connected in there. There aren’t people throwing helmets around. There aren’t people pointing fingers, doing this and that. They all, to a manner, are like, ‘I gotta be better for you in all phases.’ And that was kind of an ownership moment for the group. So that’s generally the mood.”

‘We all have this shared vision of what we can become’

“What I know is that this is a journey. And I can’t put any number of games on it. I just know that we will capture moments in games, and it’ll feel like Panthers football. When we’re playing tough on defense, when we’re playing our assignment, when we’re all in position, working together, when the flow of our offense is going and we have good tempo, we’re getting into our plays and different things like that.

“I have a picture and a vision in my mind, and so do the players. We all have this shared vision of what we can become. And until we feel that, until we feel those drives, we know we’re not there yet. We’re going to keep heading in that direction and believe that it’s going to happen and be possible.”