Film Room: What Canales Brings to Carolina

Looking at Canales through the lens of All-22.

On December 17, 2023, Baker Mayfield made history. He became only the second quarterback in the illustrious history of Lambeau Field to finish a game with a perfect passer rating. The only other quarterback to do it was Aaron Rodgers.

When Carolina hired Dave Canales, I became interested in learning more about what his offense looked like. The 42-year-old first-time head coach has been lauded for his ability to revive quarterbacks, but how does he do it? I took a look at the All-22 from Tampa Bay’s week fifteen game against Green Bay to get a better idea of how Canales’ offensive mind works, and I came away impressed by the play caller’s chops. Here’s a notebook dump on what Canales does as a play caller and offensive designer.

Tight End Featured

In review of the Buccaneers game film, the sheer amount of time tight end Cade Otton spent on the field jumped out. Very rarely did the Buccaneers offense line up with out a tight end, and more often than having none on the field, they had two. Otton finished fourth on the team in both receptions and yards while hauling in four touchdowns.

Tampa Bay ran a variety of formations, meaning Otton lined up all over the field. All of the Buccaneers' receivers spent time lining up in different spots, showing that Canales looks for versatility in his playmakers.

When it comes to tight end in Carolina, all three of Hayden Hurst, Ian Thomas, and Tommy Tremble are under contract for 2024. One of those three will become an integral piece for the Canales offense, and potentially be a steal when fantasy drafts roll around next August. 

Well-Executed Deep Passing Concepts

It didn't take a well-researched football observer to see that the Carolina offense was stale in 2023. Bryce Young's lack of downfield passing options was covered in depth by many different publications. Yes, the receiver room lacked separation ability, but to be fair to the receivers, very rarely were they schemed open. And, if they were schemed open, it was on a long-developing route and the offensive line failed to keep Bryce Young upright long enough for him to hit it. 

The Canales offense is the complete opposite of that. Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Trey Palmer are as good of a receiving trio that you'll find in the league, but they were consistently elevated by Canales' ability to scheme them open. Green Bay played multiple coverages in their secondary (Cover One, Cover Three, Tampa Two, Two Man), and Canales' offense had answers for all of them.

Take a look at this Baker Mayfield touchdown pass to Mike Evans.

Tampa sees that Green Bay is in a single high safety defense (meaning Cover One, or Cover Three), and Canales has the perfect call on the sheet. 

Trey Palmer (#10) is the inside receiver on the left side of the formation. He is running a deep post with the intention of clearing out the safety in the middle of the field. His main purpose is to draw the eyes of the deep middle defender and create a one-on-one for Mike Evans. Mission accomplished. 

Evans, the point receiver in the bunch, is also running a post route, but he uses what is called a "dino" stem. Eric Stokes, #21,  is playing Evans with outside leverage (trying to force him back inside), and it's exactly what Evans wants. Evans runs directly at his outside hip. At the top of his route (or the stem), Evans takes a rocker step inside to balance himself, and then a hard step outside (this is the "dino" stem, also known as a corner post) to get the defender off-balance, and then break inside.

Mayfield sees that Palmer has drawn the center field defender away, and that Evans has nothing but green grass at the top of his route, and the Bucs quarterback rips a beautiful ball right into Evans' breadbasket. This is a 20 yard touchdown that happens in the blink of an eye due to a couple of things. The perfect call by Canales. The perfect clear post by Palmer. The perfect route by Evans. And the perfect ball by Baker Mayfield. 

Canales' deep passing game works because everything is in sync and makes sense. Players who Canales has coached rave about his ability to teach the intricacies of the game, and it shows up on plays like this where everything is rhythm.

Taking Advantage of Mismatches

Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry prefers to play two-high safety defenses on obvious passing downs.

Traditional Cover Two 

Pictured above is a traditional Cover Two defense. Two safeties deep, and five defenders dropping into zones underneath them. In this defense, there is normally a big hole in the area between the two safeties and the middle linebacker, and offenses can attack the middle of the field and pick up yards after the catch. A variation of traditional Cover Two that muddies that area is known as "Tampa Two".

Tampa Two 

In this version of two high, the middle linebacker (or sometimes a third safety depending on personnel) drops into a deeper zone with the idea of keeping the play in front of that defender. Green Bay ran this coverage often in that game against Tampa Bay. 

Often, the Tampa Two linebacker for Green Bay is #7 Quay Walker, and Canales recognized Walker as a player to attack. And he went after him all afternoon. By all accounts Canales is a nice guy, a real players coach, but what he did to Walker was rude (and effective).

Tampa lines up in a 2x2 set, two eligible receivers on either side of the offensive line. Canales runs these spread formations with the intention of attacking the middle of the field. The defender in question, Quay Walker, reads this play well and is moving towards the area of the field Mayfield and Canales are trying to attack. 

However, the Buccaneers offensive braintrust knows that Walker lacks speed and change of direction, and Chris Godwin is going to beat him to that spot. Mayfield looks left the whole way, trusting his first read, and rips another impressive throw. 

Over and over again the Buccaneers attacked the middle of the field, knowing that Walker is a liability. According to Next Gen Stats, Mayfield was 7/7 on passes in the middle of the field 10-20 yards from the line of scrimmage. 

Mayfield's week fifteen passing chart

Quick Passing/RPO Game

"Flexible mechanics. Finds ways to get the ball out comfortably no matter the angle."

 "He’s shown to go through progressions and process leverages quickly after landing on successive reads. The QB can consistently anticipate breaks and allow receivers time and space to work with."

"...he’s a quick processor who throws with accuracy."

Any guesses at those three quotes?

Those are three different quotes pulled from three different scouting talking about Bryce Young in last year's pre-draft process. 

Sounds to me like a guy who can thrive in a system that marries the deep passing concepts discussed earlier with a well-executed RPO and screen game. Thankfully, Canales does just that.

The two videos above show Baker Mayfield reading defensive leverage perfectly on an RPO concept. On both plays, the play-side corner is playing off coverage, and the quick out is the perfect call for the coverage. 

The read portion of the RPO comes from the linebacker that crashes in on the play-fake. Once the linebacker Mayfield is reading takes a step towards the mesh point between him and his running back Rachaad White, the passing lane is open for the quarterback to pick up an easy completion. 

The final play to highlight is a really nice screen play that picks up a first down on third and long. 

After Otton motions into the slot, Green Bay has three defenders over three receivers to the left side. Tampa Bay leaves #91 unblocked, allowing their All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs to get out in space and even the numbers back up to three blockers vs three defenders and Chris Godwin carrying the ball. Godwin uses his blockers well, picking up 15 yards on a ball thrown behind the line of scrimmage. 

Basically everything Canales touched turned to gold against Green Bay. That won't be the case every week (and it for sure wasn't when Ejrio Evero and the Carolina defense shut down Tampa Bay in week eighteen. More on that later this week), but the concepts are all sound. Canales elevates his playmakers, protects his quarterback, and doesn't allow his offensive line to block too long that they get beat like a drum.

I believe Canales has the goods to be a great head coach in the NFL. Time will tell is my beliefs become reality.