Panthers Head Coach Dave Canales (Post-Game Transcript)

Opening statement:

“Great fight in the guys. Stayed with it. We needed every phase for guys to make plays at different times. The offense to get drives when we needed it. The defense to get the stops when we needed them. Then, of course, the special teams block [Panthers RB] Tre Tyus called up from the practice squad; the big punt block at the end was huge. The guys came together and found a way to win. We obviously [have] to address something. The penalties were outrageous. It’s not a part of our football. I believe it’s a franchise record for penalties. We have to clean that up. We’ve got to do better with our hands in different situations, particularly if you’re not the point of attack on a play. We’ve got to be smarter; we got to be cleaner with our screens, [offensive line] down the field, all that. A lot to work on, a lot to fix, a lot to talk about tomorrow. But right now, it’s about celebrating the fight in the guys, being able to finish and find a way to win.”

On what he attributes to the uptick in penalties today:

“I mean, they were in space. There were some holding calls. I didn’t have much of a problem with the calls and got explanations from the officials about what was happening and also why it was being so lopsided. I thought there were some things that I was trying to point out on the other side. But at the end of the day, the hands got to be cleaner. We can’t be down the field on screens. Those are obvious ones. Coming off a bye, that’s not the type of ball that we wanted to play. We want to be able to get back to playing clean football. We’ll work on that.”

On his explanation on the drive before going into the half:

“Yeah, that was me. We were in that situation where it was a potential go for it. It was about a yard and a half. They played us really well in some of the short yardage situations. I was too indecisive in that situation. What I would have loved to have done is de-organized with, ‘Hey, let’s break the huddle, let’s give a formation, and let’s try to draw them offsides.’ If we don’t, then we take the delay, but just to be cleaner there. A couple plays before that, though. Just in my philosophy of I’m not taking timeouts before the half until we get under a minute. We weren’t in that mode yet, but we were able to find that completion on third-and-long. [Panthers WR] Jalen [Coker] kind of fumbled the ball out of bounds. Then I’m sitting there. I knew they were going to run the clock. So, I got to be better. I got to be more organized that way so [Panthers QB] Bryce [Young] knows what’s happening, so [Panthers Offensive Coordinator] Brad [Idzik] knows what’s happening and we can get that.”

On Panthers WR Jalen Coker lining up as a running back in the third quarter:

“Yeah, that was just something that the past five – [Panthers Offensive Coordinator] Brad [Idzik] and the guys have been working on with [Panthers WR Jalen] Coker and we’ve had it up and down the last couple of weeks. It looked like it would be a good matchup in that area. And then [Panthers QB] Bryce [Young] did a great job of extending the play so Jalen can find a little bit more space on that one.”

On the offense coming together in the fourth quarter to put the game away and now being above 500:

“Again, we started off the game with a really nice run. I was like, here we go. First half is gone and I didn’t really come up with much after that. But again, the guys coming together, troubleshooting some different fronts, thought [Eagles Defensive Coordinator Vic] Fangio did an amazing job of just giving us different looks and making it challenging in the run game, but we were able to stick with it. We were able to find some success and [Panthers RB] Chuba [Hubbard] ended up with, I think, 120 or something [yards] like that by the end of it. And he’s running the ball really well right now. That should complement the rest of the offense.”

On being able to use Panthers TE Tommy Tremble in a lot of different ways and what he does for the offense:

“Yeah, his toughness first and foremost, his versatility, how much he cares about doing his job, all of those things are exactly what we’re trying to point our offense and our guys towards. So he creates that veteran leadership from that standpoint. Self-scout wise, just like how can we use Tommy in different ways? A little bit of fullback moving around, getting him on the perimeter, and then that delayed block touchdown he had was beautifully executed and to finish on his feet in the end zone was great.”

On expanding on that play:

“Well, I mean, the drive before, we’re three-and-out, and way deep in our own territory. Though the Eagles did a fantastic job of flipping the field on some of their punts, just the directional punts and just the air yards really. Getting that ball there at midfield was huge for an offense that had found some success in the second half, but that last drive made it a little bit more challenging. Attribute that to Tracy, Darren, all the guys working together and Trey being able to come up as a call up and execute it perfectly really. A fantastic job for the special teams contributing.

On what it says about the Panthers’ team to have a franchise-record amount of penalties and still win by 11 points:

“A lot of times these are effort penalties, and guys are trying too hard in different situations. I was a part of a Seattle Seahawks team that was dead last in terms of most penalty yards. That was our Super Bowl 48 team, and it was a very aggressive group, but at the same time, when you play good teams, you can’t afford to give them anything. I can really point to the penalties that took major yards off. [Panthers TE] Mitch Evans had a really nice play up the sideline, comes back because we’re downfield, some things like that. We just can’t afford to do that. We have to do right, and we have to make sure that we don’t give any freebies to the opponent.”

On how Panthers CB Will Lee III has come along during the season:

“[Panthers CB] Will [Lee III] had a great game. I thought he had some beautiful pass breakups down the field, short and intermediate. He’s getting penalties because he’s challenging people. I’m fine with that. Can he work on having cleaner hands? Sure. Are you going to be a successful DB in the NFL if you don’t use your hands? No, you’re not. I love the fact that he took the challenge; he stayed up there and pressed. They were able to get a big touchdown later on in the game, but for the most part, that’s exactly how you got to play ball. When you have your opportunities, get up there, challenge them, make them have to throw an accurate pass. I was really proud of the way he played.”

On what it says about Panthers QB Bryce Young to have his worst game of the season and still put up high stats:

“Yeah, he’s just trying to win the game, and whatever that looks like, that’s what [Panthers QB] Bryce [Young] is trying to do, and he took care of the ball today, and he threw it away when he had to. He found some extra yards running down there in that red zone, that last red zone shot that really gave us an opportunity to continue that drive. That’s where his mind is focused. He’ll be the first one up here telling you he doesn’t care about the records and the stats. The only stat he cares about is winning, and the guys know that that’s true about him, and if he continues to play like this, it gives us a great chance.”

On how the Eagles’ short-handed offense impacted the Panthers’ playcalling:

“Yeah, there was an influence of it because our defense was playing so well and really making it challenging for their offense, and the really obvious fourth downs we had to go and some of the other ones I didn’t feel like we had to at times because our defense was playing so well. The whole thing kind of ties together and allows us to play the football that we want to.”