Dave Canales - Offensive Coordinator, panthers Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-09 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 9, 2026, Dave Canales addressed the media during a press conference for the Carolina Panthers, focusing on the team's preparation and energy as they approach their upcoming game. He also discussed player health updates, including an injury concern regarding a key player.
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Transcript
Canales: All right work Wednesday, we're back. That's the challenge to the group is can we capture the work ethic that that is required? Making sure that every single day we step on the grass we're ready to go the energy has got to be right from start to finish and the guys did that today I was really pleased and proud of the energy that was out there the guys are excited obviously to get going on the game plan and with all the meetings the walkthroughs and everything to get out on the field and to throw a practice like that.
Canales: Pat's deal related to his back surgery from last year unrelated just an aggravation and of a different side of it. So, you know, we were able to get ahead of it treat it. We do not expect him to play this week. Yeah, but he'll be week to week and we're hoping that we can get him turned around pretty quickly and but again with those issues we got to be smart about this and make sure that we're bringing him back with the right cadence and making sure he's ready to go in practice.
Canales: It was building up. Yes, and then and then he just it just started to really tighten up on him. Yeah, we need we need princely we need Travis Thomas incomb all the guys that have been working and practicing for us to be able to fill bits and pieces of the roles that Pat played.
Canales: Yeah, he looked good today, you know, he just he's got a little bit of soreness in his groin so we were aware of that and started treating it and then he went out there went through the full individuals took selective reps throughout the practice so it wouldn't have been his full normal load of a practice, but pretty much he practiced the whole day very optimistic.
Canales: Yeah, very very confident that he'll be out there on Sunday. Bobby was from just the from Monday's practice back tightened up so something we're aware of but he was out there practicing today and again limited for him meant the same thing it was probably not his, you know, four to six reps per rack it was probably something like two or three but he was able to get through it and I checked with him afterwards and he said he felt fine.
Reporter: No Pat Jones. What does it how much more responsibilities that put on Jalen on Sunday and just in general? Like what makes you confident that you know, I can handle that that extra responsibility?
Canales: They were starting opposite sides. So nothing really changes for Jalen. It's more really princely trevis Thomas incomb picking up some of the different roles that he plays in different packages.
Reporter: Hey, we just talked to Tepper and one of the things he talked about is getting off to faster. Yeah I know that's something you've preached on too. But specifically Bryce has had slow starts too and I wonder if in looking at the last couple years that you've been with him is there a common theme to some of his early season struggles?
Canales: Really the message for Bryce the message for the whole group is consistency and what we've seen is we can play really great quarters at times. Can we play full games consistently week in and week out? That's my messaging. That's the goal for it and with consistency means hey if we can play this well, you know down the stretch of a game or or we score more points in the second quarter how about we just be consistent with all of it across the board and that includes the first quarter guys we don't need to wait around to kind of feel it out and see what's happening. Let's go get it we know what we're doing and which the confidence and the knowledge of how we're trying to employ things really just leads to fast football and we have all that we have guys that have been in the system guys that know what they're doing and so my expectation is the guys come out and play great from snap one to the end.
Reporter: To follow up, did you tweak anything in preseason or in camp with the idea that this team would be maybe a little better prepared in week one?
Canales: The emphasis for me is just about how we enter the practice field how we step on the grass. There can't be a gradual easing into a practice body readiness. You got to be ready when you step on the grass. You can't be waiting around for Josh Hinks to get the dynamic warm-up going for you to be ready. That process starts in the locker room and we have a number of guys that lead by example in that regard. They're in there they're working on their body different things that have affected them over the course of time they spend a little more attention on that they're out on the field 15 minutes before we even start the practice just moving around. You know, it's Corey Thornton. It's JC Horn Mike Jack Chuba Hubbard to think off the top Devin Lloyd. These guys are out there just working on their craft and also just kind of wake it wake it up their central nervous system so that they're ready to go when we start practice.
Canales: It's no different than the game on Sundays they go through a process to get their body right in their mind, right? The pregame what everybody sees is our pregame isn't our warm-up. The guys are ready to play when we go into that, you know, and there's really not a full team stretch that happens they're doing all the readiness inside. So my challenge to the guys was replicate what it feels like to get your body ready so when you hit the grass we're ready to go. I just think it's a muscle memory thing I think it's a presence of mind and a focus of like when I'm ready to go. It's full speed.
Reporter: Hey, if I understand that the unofficial depth chart is the unofficial depth chart, but seeing Lee Hunter with that starting group. Yeah, I don't think DJ has started a rookie week one. What does he done to impress you guys and show you that he deserves to kind of be at the head of that rotation?
Canales: Yeah, I mean it's twofold first and foremost, you know Lee just locking him into that nose position. Of course when you four down he's got to play a shade he's got to play a three depending on what where the front moves and all that. But they did a great job coach wash he and those guys did a great job of just really shrinking the package down for him so he could just get at one part and he started making plays started to take to the to the technique that we're looking for. So that's that's a big part of it and then the other side of its necessity we need Lee to go right now, you know and and Turks not ready to go and he stepped in there and showed us that he can play quality snaps.
Canales: You know in that competition that was happening in there with he and Cam Jackson you know and and lead did the work and made strides to be able to put himself out there as a starter.
Reporter: Him and Monroe you've got a couple of rookies starting on Sunday. I mean there's always gonna be nerves going into that first game. Do you talk to him ahead of time to keep them calm or just kind of let them do their own thing?
Canales: I talked to him, you know, we just talked about it plainly and at the end of the day it's just football and they've played a lot of football in their lifetime. So lean on those experiences lean on the coaching default to your fundamentals and that'll carry you through and just to convince the guys like you belong you belong here you belong out there on Sunday and you know just having those those small sidebar conversations, you know of encouragement of challenging and then also I mean they're getting their butts coached off by their position coaches you know to to gain the technique and the the different, you know the awareness that's required to play on Sundays and so and it'll be a process and there will be some some great plays by them and there'll be some plays they're gonna want to have back and and that's all part of it.
Reporter: David talk about the readiness and kind of getting the central nervous system ready week one is a small sample size. But what does it mean to get a week one win? This is a program that hasn't had one I think four straight seasons. What kind of confidence can I give a group when you get a first one?
Canales: I really don't try to weigh them any different, you know preseason games regular season one you practice to win you practice for that game and this is the first opportunity to play a really good opponent and to see where we're at and also to just play our football and it's a it's a growth curve from week one all the way to the end of the season where we're trying to find lessons in it what are we doing really well and what do we need to improve on and it's gonna give us a lot of great information. Heck yeah, I want to win this game. Absolutely. That's the whole point we put all this time in and all that but you know, I I just have a habit of I don't I don't put a lot of stock on any one moment. They're all important to me they're all championship opportunities and I want our players to be thinking the same way.
Reporter: How important is that to just continue when you get a home opener and to kind of start this season off with that same experience?
Canales: That's the exciting part, you know, I take a lot of pride with with the coaches as well we take a lot of pride of being able to put out a brand of football that we're proud of that the Panthers fans are proud of and especially the ones who get to show up on Sunday to see their team and to see what we could look like at times last year, but to see us do that consistently it's gonna be important and we got to be able to feed off that energy. I'm excited to get back in there in the Bank of America Stadium with the whole thing live and everyone's excited everyone I've run into in town everyone's fired up to see us get back to football.
Reporter: You have five months where you know who your opponent is what's the danger is there any danger in over preparing overthinking yourself? Like how do you handle that?
Canales: You got plenty of time to go through scenarios to try to have contingency plans for things with that. We don't know what they've been practicing they didn't show all their stuff in the preseason games where the starters played but the core principles were there so we can count on those things showing up. But there are things there's wrinkles we've been working on there are wrinkles that the bears have been working on throughout camp throughout the offseason. So while we got to take stock in what did they do last season we also know there is good there are going to be some adjustments that are going to be made in in the middle of the game. So while you're preparing you try not to just solidify a game plan way in advance you just gather information on all the different areas so we can make educated assumptions about what they might be doing and then you go for it and as we get closer last week it started and then really honing the game plan on Monday and Tuesday so that we can go through a normal routine, of course with a lot of other thoughts put into it.
Reporter: Looking back at last year what Chicago did and what you've seen from the military preseason what are your overall impressions and what they have come in the year?
Canales: Extremely impressed coaching staff first of all that I really respect Ben Johnson a guy I've studied for years watching what he built in Detroit and then got going with the Bears and making tweaks to fit his people to fit Caleb and to fit his skill group on the defensive side Dennis Allen is a guy that I really respect I was able to coach against him in different capacities over the years and then as a coordinator when I was in Tampa and he does just enough he does just enough in different areas to keep you honest and while you might want to say hey this is a man-to-man zone there goes cover too and just different things like that he's got a lot of experience where he'll keep you guessing and so you have to go with the percentages of what it's supposed to be but also be ready for some wrinkles. So I just respect I respect the really just how smart this staff is and then of course the style of which they play this is not a finesse offense. They run the ball hard. They run the ball with attitude it's a really good front and some aggressive running backs. That's the challenge that's the challenge that our guys have to be had to have to know like this isn't some kind of you know tricky misdirection lean thing that happens, too. But the end of the day when those backs have the ball they're running downhill and then they want to throw explosives off of those things and so that's something that we try to do as well and try to build those things so I really respect this whole group and I can't wait for this opportunity.
Reporter: Guys you bad defensively with the guys who banded on Jalen, I know you want to give away your own game plan. But yeah this season in general, what what do you think you are able to do more this season? Maybe then you weren't and then you were last year with a different type of personality bad.
Canales: Well, it just makes everything better. Darryl bevel told me this long time ago he just said, you know, you don't have to just create a whole entire new system when you add great players all your core stuff just get better and whether it's our four-man rush system with all of our coverages and people helping each other your rush is better when you add guys like Jalen Phillips whether it's the blitz packages and different ways to use Devin Lloyd, you know, and we still got Trey Merrick coming off the edge at times and those different things, you know, when you add great players everything just gets better and the rush gets better the coverage communication gets better on that side and so that's my expectation is that we're able to execute the basics of what we've always done and now I'll just have a little bit more heat to it with the additions.
Canales: You guys got to the middle of the pack defensively in the rankings last year where have you seen the most growth this summer in terms of where they're going and and kind of what's the next step that they've got to take?
Canales: Yeah, the growth of the defense really happened as they started to communicate and play together and I saw that happen down the stretch play against some really good teams and they faced some fantastic opponents, you know, obviously the Rams the Seahawks at the end the Saints who emerged as a really pretty potent offense and Tyler Schuck getting things going and so I saw the communication really grow and that really led to the the success of it and then I've seen the carryover come in into the offseason going through training camp and I saw all those elements matched with a new pass rusher a second year princely having Pat Jones back, you know, I know he won't be playing this week but just the versatility of the rush group and the ways that those guys can you really get after it is something that I'm excited to see.
Canales: All right, thank you.
