Panthers’ Dave Canales Replies to Keegan-Michael Key’s Quip at NFL Honors Show

The Carolina Panthers’ new coach is keeping receipts after the comedian took a dig at the team.

Following a season in which the Carolina Panthers finished with the NFL’s worst record at 2–15, everyone involved with the team might expect to be the target of jokes. 

However, it still probably stung for the Panthers to be ridiculed before an audience of NFL players, coaches, executives and celebrities, at Thursday night’s NFL Honors awards show in Las Vegas. 

Host Keegan-Michael Key had a quip ready in his opening monologue, packaged with a reference to Taylor Swift, whose likely presence at Super Bowl LVIII is a huge storyline leading up to Sunday’s big game. 

“My understanding is that Taylor Swift is in Tokyo right now,” Key said. “The only people farther from the Super Bowl are the Carolina Panthers.” 

New Panthers coach Dave Canales, who was hired Jan. 25, took note of Key’s swipe at the team, responding to Charlotte Observer beat reporter Mike Kaye’s post of the joke on social media. Canales’s response was quiet but pointed. 

🤔 🔖 https://t.co/Q1Rf5HJRcU

— Dave Canales (@TheCoachCanales) February 9, 2024

Based on the emojis Canales posted, he is bookmarking and keeping a receipt of Key’s jab. That certainly implies that the new coach expects to be successful and engineer a turnaround in Charlotte. 

Yet how long will it be before Canales can call out Key for this joke? Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes recently punched back at doubters and critics in the media, but it took three years for him to be in a position to do so. 

For the sake of Panthers fans, hopefully the turnaround will occur soon enough for people to remember Key’s joke–even if it figures to last for awhile on the internet.