CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers continue to be grilled by fans and analysts following their abysmal 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the NFL's opening week.
The Panthers allowed the Saints to score on their first nine possessions. New Orleans held Carolina under 200 yards in Dave Canales' first game as head coach.
Quarterback Bryce Young looked outmatched and showed no growth from his inadequate rookie season. Young had just 161 yards passing and threw two interceptions, including a turnover on the Panthers' first play. The running game did not help, with the Panthers managing just 58 yards rushing.
These results have been fodder for NFL talk shows, which have waited over 200 days to analyze and overreact to content. Carolina's uninspiring performance has prompted its coaches and players to be in the crossfire of these reactions.
"Dave Canales is already on the hot seat," Chris Brockman said on the Rich Eisen Show's Overreaction Monday segment. "They're dealing with an owner who has an itchy trigger finger."
Eisen called Brockman's claim an overreaction but said their opening performance of 2024 was terrible.
Other shows were also critical of Canales and the decision to hire him for the head coaching job.
"That was your first game as a head coach -- that's your statement?" Rex Ryan said on ESPN's Get Up. "You get what you deserve. [The Panthers] bring in some hot-shot kid who was a coordinator for two years... they bring in Dave Canales who was dead last [in rushing] two years in a row... You expect [Young] to develop?"
Ryan believes the Panthers should have hired a coach more focused on the running game to help take some of the pressure off of Young.
Locked On Panthers host Julian Council, though, said Canales will need to be given two seasons to work things out.
"They got to give him two years," Council said. "You have to be patient at some point if you're David Tepper. The best way to show that patience is to give Bryce and Dave this entire season and the next."
Canales and Young spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since Sunday's dreadful loss. Both were eager to put the loss behind them and start over in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
"We're never gonna quit," Canales said on Wednesday. "To feel the challenge of that day and the discipline to go forward bleeds to the character of this team."
The Panthers' home opener is on Sunday against the Chargers at 1 p.m.