Dave Canales Presser | August 16, 2025

Dave Canales speaks with the media following the Panthers preseason loss to the Texans.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
For the review. All right, a lot of good work
out there, you know. To me, I think to kind
of sum it up, you know, it was a it
was a day of almost so I just kind of
challenged the group. I was like, are we gonna be
almost good? Are we gonna make the plays when they're
there to be made? One for ten on third down?
You know, Uh, j T Sanders misses the ball. Bryce

(00:24):
you know, hit him right and right and stride on.
We got a double move. T is probably gonna score
a touchdown. We didn't block the Neil Hunter on the right,
hit Andy in the elbow, speaking of which took him out.
Looks like an elbow sprain. Will image it tomorrow, So
I don't really have the details of all that. He
was moving in a round fine, he said, he feels fine,
but we got to take a look and see what
happens there, you know. And then Jack Plumber two interceptions

(00:47):
you know on third down, so that makes it a
really difficult day. Gave them seven points down there where
we threw that one interception, you know, and all in all,
just kind of looking play to play, you know. I'm
excited about our group. I'm excited about the talent that
we have out there, but can we play together and
can we make it come alive? And we didn't do
that to our standard and to my standard today. You know,

(01:17):
I just wanted them to go out and earn another series.
And I just really felt like, you know, with giving
them two shots to do it and it not coming up,
I wasn't gonna just put them back out there to
kind of say, hey, let's just play some more football.
St Uh. That kind of paired with we got great
work two days ago, and you know, I just kind
of looked at it that way. I felt like, you know,
the work we got against the Texans in the practice

(01:37):
was was good enough for me to kind of look
at that and wanted them to get the prep and
get ready for the game. Still out get out there
and get a couple of series. But that that's kind
of what was behind it approach. Bryce's is heading into
his third NFL season. It's more experience now in the game.
What are some areas that was that you've seen in

(02:00):
Bryce Young or maybe some areas that recruitment. I just
love Bryce to just continue to be a consistent leader
for his team, operating the systems. You know, he's been
just on time. He's been, you know, making our practices
come alive really and allowing us to dig deeper into
the playbook. Any updated on Carter, Yeah, he came back

(02:21):
in finished the game, so I think he just kind
of got rolled up on. I'm not sure if it
was an ankle or knee, but he was able to return,
so we got him back out there. We haven't seen
Caim Jackson. I mean, he's been working off to the side.
What's the latest on him? And then what's the update
on next scort? Yeah for Cam, so you know, something
in his shoulder. So really the goal is to try

(02:42):
to make sure that he's stable and has his strength back.
He's heading that direction, so I'm hopeful that he'll play,
that he'll practice this week for the Steelers. But again,
he's got to be able to prove and show us that,
you know, he's got the strength back in the shoulder.
And then who else did you ask about? Yeah? Yeah,
so okay, so I didn't tell you guys. So s
Gorton's suffered. He collapsed lung. It was a very physical play.

(03:05):
It was presenting like heat exhaustion, you know, because he
was having trouble breathing. You know, he was getting tired
and all that, so we kind of cooled him down.
We couldn't get him to respond good enough to where
we felt comfortable about putting him back into practice. So
I really tribute you know, Denny and the training staff
are just kind of evaluating where he was at and saying,
this is not a guy that needs to return to

(03:27):
practice today. And then you know, the symptoms kind of
grew after practice and then we so we had checked
him into the hospital and then that's where they kind
of told us what was happening. The symptoms all say
this is what it was. So Gorton was driving home.
He's on his way back. I think he might have
made it back yesterday. He left yesterday, so he'd be
back in Charlotte. We will keep evaluating him, and I

(03:47):
don't really know a timeline. It's really weak to week
with those types of things. I've heard from different from
from the trainers and from different coaches who have been
around this where you know where a guy played the
next week. But you know, just so we got to
be smart with that one. And and I'll let you
know where we're at once we get back to Charlotte
from that standpoint. Uh, this all kind of came out

(04:10):
over the last few days. If you've been kind of
like been able to kind of reiterate to the team
what's going on and are they all aware what's happened?
They are all aware. Yes, looks like prince Lely Eumonnland
had some really good reps against the run today. I
know he's known more as a pass rusher ya, but
what did you see from him? Yeah? Just uh, weekly growth,

(04:32):
you know, daily growth. I think with young players they
make their biggest strides, like their their growth curve is
so huge. You know early on the style of of
play that we're looking for, the techniques that we're asking for,
and that's what I've just seen from from the group
in general. But for sure with Princely, you know, just
wanted to be a complete player and knowing that that

(04:53):
potential is out there for him to to be, you know,
to establish that physicality against the run and then still
give us the pass rust that we I know he
has and then with the huge ways did you see
from him today overall? Yeah, and and in the past game,
you know, vision patients, good control of the ball and uh,

(05:16):
you know, I think one of the returns he slips
on the turf, you know, he's cutting it back to avoid.
Really two of the returns kind of played out very similar.
He set it up properly. The protect the blocking was
was really good to get him through that first wave
and he kind of lost himself there. But in the
run game, you know, it was patients, it was vision,
it was the burst that we saw. And as he
gets more and more comfortable with our different run styles,

(05:38):
you know, he really he really showed some good things today.
Played center with guard. Was the game what made you
decide to move him inside? And and how did he look?
Just from I know you have looked at the tape,
but just from your immediate viewing, Yeah, I mean immediately
it was just, you know, it's good snaps, getting our
runs ide'ed. I think we might have missed one id.

(06:00):
They they left base out there a couple of times
against eleven. Personal like, it's a little bit tricky with
where you you know, I D the run and do
all that. So but besides that, it was a pretty
clean day for him for us, you know, just kind
of evaluating guys, the more you can do, you know,
the better odds, you have to make our team, and
so to see you know, how he was going to
operate at center, looking at we looked at Kate at guard.

(06:21):
You know, he had a really good week, came out
and played next to Austin and and Ikey, you know
on the left side with where we're at with d
Lewin and uh and Chandler. You know. So I thought
Kate did a really good job to Yes, it's a
it's a precautionary deal with I just learned about it.
So they said, you know, when when you have that
type of a you know, chest injury, you know, the

(06:44):
the cabin pressure, the elevation and all that can present issues.
And so you know, the the best course of action
was to get him in a car driving back to
Charlotte and continuous treatment there. Derek, Derek wasn't out there
very well. Yeah, didn't mean to just get him out
there with the group. Oh he was begging me, you know,
it was it wasn't my intention to play Derek, I'll

(07:04):
be honest. And he was like, coach, I just got
to get out there. I got to get my hands
on somebody. And he was, you know, wearing coach wash
out too, and I just I just love the fact
he want to be out there with his guys. He
wanted to be able to, you know, see game speed,
be able to get his hands on something and knock
something back, and so I was I was really excited
to see Derek back out there balance I guess competitive

(07:28):
preseason game, but also having the outcome that he had
today and then in last week. I think the cool
part for me is it allows us to coach our
guys hard on the fundamentals of football, which is the
reason why we come away with three points, which is
the reason why you know, UH teams are sustaining drives,
you know, different things like that. It's like it comes

(07:48):
down to the basics, comes down to playing your leverage,
knowing your assignment, and then finishing the play. You know,
who's going to make the plays for us? That's what
we want to know, you know, and we've seen guys
do it, you know, consistently and then and inconsistently when
we get into our game settings. And so it just
allows me to challenge them, like we're trying to win
all these games, you know, with whatever group goes out there,
you know, that's the goal, and to not be able

(08:09):
to get that done. You know. It's frustrating, you know,
and you know, how far do we read into it?
Not very far. This is this game. We got a
week of work in front of us. We have two
really important practices before we go into Pittsburgh. The starters
will not play this upcoming week, and so those practices
really become so valuable because so last time we have

(08:31):
this whole group together, you know, and we're able to
get the intensities that we want going into the season.
I feel great about our conditioning level. I feel great
about the physicality of the play. I don't feel great
about our execution of the basics because it's not showing
up consistently for us, you know, and there's flashes. I'm
excited about our guys. I'm excited about our people, but
that's where leadership comes in. And when are we going

(08:53):
to take those steps to count on each other and
to be able to make those plays when they're going
to four four