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Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera did see some cause for optimism a day after his team lost the season opener 16-10 to Tampa Bay.
"There's some cause for optimism is some of the mistakes on the offensive side are all correctable," Rivera said. "It wasn’t a glaring thing as far as schematically. It was a player here or a player there. Something that they did. It’s something that we feel very comfortable about going out and getting better at. So there’s cause that we will get better at it."
The offense went away from its rushing game early against the Buccaneers, and Rivera said it was because Tampa Bay stacked the box with eight men. That forced the Panthers and Cam Newton to throw more, and resulted in the team tying a franchise-low 10 rushing yards in the game.
Running back DeAngelo Williams tied his career low with -1 rushing yard, and the team had to do without Jonathan Stewart, who is still recovering from an ankle sprain. He didn't have an update on Stewart, but they will continue monitoring him this week.
"We'll see," RIvera said. "He's a big part of what we want to be as a football team."
The coach's message to the team following the loss was simple, though. There's always next week, and there's no need to be rash.
