The Carolina Panthers broke a five-game losing streak on Sunday when they defeated the Detroit Lions 20-0. A week ago, the Panthers suffered their worst loss of the season when they fell to the Tampa Bay Bucs 46 to 23, but this week Coach Rhule says he is proud of how his team used that experience to bounce back in the right way.
“Instead of falling apart, they came together this week and I think had their best week of preparation. I think that they’ve been bought in,” Rhule said. “You don’t have success and then buy-in. That’s not the way it works or else you’ll never have success.”
The Panthers were missing a handful of starters for Sunday’s game including Teddy Bridgewater and Christian McCaffrey, but the team came together with P.J. Walker filling in for Bridgewater and the defense stepping up in a big way by pitching its first shutout since 2015.
“I think there’s a sense of satisfaction, not the win, but to play the way that we played, to throw two interceptions in the endzone and see the defense go out and say don’t worry about it and get stops, to kick a 58-yard field goal,” Rhule said. “That football that we played yesterday is the type of football I want to play.”
While Sunday’s game showed improvement for Carolina, Rhule is quick to remind everyone that this is their first year together and growing pains will continue to happen.
“Everyone is going to look at it in a lot of different ways. It was just our eleventh week together so they’re growing and learning more and more,” Rhule explained.
Rhule also shared that he expects quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to practice on Wednesday and that running back Christian McCaffrey is still week-to-week.
Carolina heads to Minnesota to face the Vikings on Sunday, November 9th.
