What Dave Canales said after Carolina Panthers’ redemptive OT win over Cardinals
The Carolina Panthers built a big lead in the first half and watched it slowly wither away until the end of regulation, a painful but old-as-time tale forming right in front of a freezing fan base in Bank of America Stadium.
Something was different this time, though.
The Panthers, against momentum and odds, prevailed in overtime, 36-30, over the Arizona Cardinals — courtesy of the endlessly churning legs of Chuba Hubbard and the guts of a maligned defense to get an overtime stop when the team needed one most.
The win lifted the Panthers to a 4-11 record — doubling their total from a year ago — and eliminated the plucky Cardinals from the playoff chase.
Head coach Dave Canales answered to his team’s gutsy, victorious performance Sunday. He discussed all the big moments down the stretch — from the play-calling decisions in the fourth quarter, to Hubbard’s redemptive overtime performance, to second-year quarterback Bryce Young’s display of toughness and accuracy and personality.
Here’s a recap of the coach’s postgame presser.
Opening statement: This is ‘Panthers football’
“Panthers football. Don’t turn the ball over. Got two from them. Cleaned up some of our special teams penalties, but we had some others, and that sort of happens throughout the course of a game.
“But we talk about ‘finish.’ And finding a way to finish, do right longer, and the defense found a way in that overtime to have a couple of balls knocked down, sacks, and big things right there. And the offense of course finishing the way we want to: Being able to run the ball with toughness right there, we’re in a great situation for a field goal, and Chuba ends up breaking a few tackles and scoring right there.
“So it was a great thing to celebrate with the guys and to re-emphasize that playing football right, doing right longer, is the way we finish. So I was really happy about that.”
On Chuba Hubbard closing out the game
“It’s great for everybody involved. We talk about being able to run the ball. We talk about being able to finish the game running the ball, and we were able to do that right there, so it was huge.”
Last two possessions before final one ended in incompletions … did that change in final drive?
“Absolutely. Thought about just having that mentality. They gave us some pretty challenging looks in those situations, so they were playing for us to run the ball in those situations. And I thought we had a couple of good passes called. Bryce kind of tripped up (on one). I think they said he might’ve tripped on (center Brady Christensen’s) foot. And then the last one, we had a guy open in the flat for a potential first down and we missed the throw on that one, we’d love to have that.
“But when we got to overtime, we knew we had the opportunity to run the ball there, so it worked out for us.”
What does winning the last home game mean to franchise?
“It was great. It was great to just get right here in Bank of America Stadium with our fans. It was a great showing by the fans. There was some great energy at the end of this finish right here, so to be able to show our style of great effort and enthusiasm, great toughness, playing smart, and finishing. The final piece of that is really special to me, so we can feel what it’s like to play that brand of football.”
Jacoby Windmon and Demani Richardson?
“It’s about opportunity. And we talked about that last night. Don’t miss your shot. When you get your shot, make the most of your opportunities. And I had a chance to go and find Coby Windmon after the game, and he just mentioned that that resonated with him. He’s got an opportunity here. Opportunities come in a bunch of different ways, and his happened to be because of the injuries that we’ve suffered in that position. But he made some big plays, he made some big tackles in the open field and ran around and really just played fast.”
When did Cade Mays become a no-go? And what does it say about Brady Christensen playing well in Mays’ stead?
“It was really this morning. And Brady was prepared. And he’s worked on it to be ready, to go in at a bunch of different positions, really, and for Brady to come through again and allow us to play football was huge. And again, another opportunity for Brady to show what he can do as well.”
Bryce Young’s bounce-back performance
“He just played fast again. He was really decisive. You saw some of the scrambles early in the first half, where he was able to pick up some critical third downs for us there and run one in for the touchdown. So it was about just being decisive and knowing where all those bones are buried and those concepts, and being able to get to the scrambles when those windows opened up for him. and again, just making some really nice throws when you needed him to.”
How has team progressed?
“We just look for weekly progress. We take each game as an isolated game and look at those things, work on issues and try to just improve one week at a time. And that’s been our focus, and that’s going to be our focus again this week, with Christmas coming up, it’ll be a little bit of a different schedule, but it’ll still be about getting our work done and be focused to go play the Bucs.”
Assessing the parallels of earlier losses in Bank of America Stadium
“Just being comfortable. As long as we got time and downs. We go to overtime, you gotta go to overtime, and you just gotta continue to play football, and continue to do right longer. That’s the message for our group and for the guys, especially for the defense to get us that ball back one more time right there in overtime after we had to punt on the first drive. The guys just continue to have that fight that we’ve had all year, and we finished it the way we wanted to, which is with a win.”
Hip-drop penalty called on Windmon was first of NFL season. Your thoughts on it?
“It was a big play. It was certainly a big play. And all of the elements looked like they were there, you know. The posture, all those things that they’re looking for. I haven’t seen the replay fully yet, so I don’t want to comment too much more on it. But the officials are making their calls quickly. I know there’s a lot of pressure on them, when they see something.”
On Bryce Young’s toughness
“He just keeps popping and playing the next play. And that’s the goal, what we talked about, is to refocus. Can we snap back in and just play the next play? And that’s what he did today.”
Chuba Hubbard is hero vs. Cardinals after fumbling in OT vs. Bucs a few weeks ago
“It just speaks to his character, that’s just who he is. He’s just going to go right back to work. And we’re going to keep giving him the ball, especially in these types of moments. And it was a beautiful finish. It was the old-school duo play. And our guys, they fit up the blocks properly. He ran behind his pads, secured the ball, finished in the end zone. It was great redemption for Chuba, for sure.”
Coaching points on penalties
The Panthers recorded nine penalties for 64 yards, and the Cardinals had 11 penalties for 82.
“I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s about just continuing to play football, regardless of how those opportunities come to us. Can we just get right back on schedule to doing the right things, trying to attack the defense the way that we were? Can the defense continue to make their adjustments to the different issues that show up in the game? So today was a bunch of them. It was a back-and-forth game there, and even though we had a little bit of a lead, the Cardinals fought right back in.
“Something we talked about with (Arizona QB Kyler Murray), just the competitiveness of the guy. And coach Jonathan Gannon, they’ve been building this football team now for two years, and to continue to see them play sound football and make it hard on us. So it was a knock-down, drag-out kind of thing.”
