What Dave Canales said as Panthers squander sole lead of NFC South in Saints loss
When the Carolina Panthers played the New Orleans Saints in October, they threw away a compelling opportunity.
On Sunday, they squandered an even larger one.
The Panthers were stunned by the Saints, who saw a game-winning field goal fly through the uprights with two seconds remaining to give them a 20-17 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The loss not only completes the Saints’ second sweep of the Panthers in three seasons but also drops the Panthers to 7-7 on the season — and robs them of sole possession of the NFC South lead.
The Panthers next play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who are also 7-7 and now tied for the top spot in the division as the race to the playoffs comes to a boil. The Panthers and Bucs actually play twice in their last three weeks of the season.
Head coach Dave Canales answered mostly to the ways in which the Panthers fell short on Sunday. The central reason, which Canales brought up unprompted, was penalties. Lots of them. The Panthers finished with a season-high 11 penalties for 103 yards, including the game-sealer of sorts, when Lathan Ransom hit Saints QB Tyler Shough after the rookie playmaker had started his slide with less than 20 seconds left in the contest. That unnecessary roughness penalty set the Saints up for a 47-yard field goal instead of a much more difficult 62-yarder.
There was also questioning regarding that play with 11 minutes in the game — the fourth-and-1 in which Chuba Hubbard got stuffed at the line and turned the ball over on downs. The Panthers could’ve tried a 52-yard field goal to push the game to 20-10.
Bryce Young finished with his first good game as an NFL quarterback in the New Orleans dome, completing of 15 of 24 passes for 163 yards and one of the better touchdown throws you’ll see to Jalen Coker (who continued his ascension Sunday with four receptions for 60 yards and one touchdown). All that yielded a 96.4 passer rating for Young. The third-year quarterback also added seven carries for 49 rushing yards.
Here’s a recap of what Canales said postgame.
Opening statement: ‘Penalties are what killed us’
“Credit to the Saints for taking advantage of their opportunities, putting together some amazing drives there. There’s stuff we certainly have to look at and make sure that we shore up. And as far as we’re concerned, just the penalties — the penalties are really what killed us, and some third-and-longs that we gave up. You don’t give yourself a chance when you’re sitting on first-and-20s and those types of things, the untimeliness of the penalties.
“The field goal block (turned) offsides, giving them another opportunity in that fourth-and-1 — we end up getting the stop, but still, it gives them another shot there. So we talk about our play style, we talk about play smart and finish, that did not show up for us today. And that’s something that we certainly have to talk about.”
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On going for fourth-and-1 instead of kicking the 4th-quarter FG to maybe extend game to 20-10
“With inches to go, I felt confident in our guys. I wanted to give Chuba (Hubbard) the ball on that play, make that first down and continue that drive right there. So made that decision. It didn’t work out for us.”
Vibe in the locker room: Does it feel like a missed opportunity?
“Yeah, there are two things going on. There are a lot of guys who are really disappointed because of the missed opportunity that we had, and at the same time, there are a lot of great leaders in that locker room that understand we got a lot of football in front of us. We have to make sure that we move on quickly. We look at the film. Make sure we tidy up the things that we need to and get ready for the next game. And that’s really got to be the mentality. So we stay together and finish this thing.”
On Lathan Ransom’s late hit to set Saints up for FG
“Those are difficult plays. But we have to be smarter in the in those situations. Tyler’s done a great job running the ball in different situations. And we just have to be better about where we’re approaching that tackle and making sure that we’re not leading with our shoulder, because as he goes down, you’re going to end up in that head neck area. They were good calls. And those are just situations we have to be more aware of, you know, where you’re facing a really mobile quarterback.”
Not very penalized throughout the season; what happened?
“Maybe it’s coming off the bye week. ... What’s resulted in not having penalties has been the discipline of how we’ve been playing, and for all those penalties to show up the way that they did, this is something that we have to attack head on and have those conversations about when they happen, how they occurred, and make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
On the Saints’ ability to move the ball on the Panthers’ defense
“We had some near misses. We got the ball down on the ground, a couple times the ball popped up, and they end up catching the ball, you know, in the red zone and pop right back to the guy. We had a few just unfortunate misses that way. But we were attacking the ball the right way. The effort was there, the physicality and the style of play that we’re looking for was there. But the execution was not. And that’s the part that we have to look at and talk to the guys about.”
Where do you go from here?
“Just get back to work. Trust in our process. It’ll lead to good results, and make sure that we learn from this, learn from the mistakes that happen throughout this game, so that we can go find our best football. That was not it today.”
On coming back to Charlotte to play a consequential game next week
“We’re really fortunate to be in this position where we can play the Bucs twice, and have the division opponent in the last three games twice. And to me, it plays into a great opportunity for us. But this is going to be about the toughness, mental toughness, to be able to move on, focus on the Bucs this week, and make sure that we shore up the things that we need to find our best football.”
On Ikem Ekwonu’s penalty after what he thought was a late hit on Bryce Young
“It’s a part of the game. And you know, these are judgment calls that happen at full speed. So we have to be able to trust the officials to do their job in those situations. ...
“I usually just have conversations. If I felt something was close, we have those conversations and make sure that the information gets all the way to the white hat. But again, they have to make full speed judgment calls and that’s what we go with.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2025 at 8:47 PM.
