What Matt Rhule Said Following the Loss to Denver

Carolina Panthers' head coach Matt Rhule talks about what went wrong in the loss vs the Broncos.

The Carolina Panthers dropped to 4-9 on the season after yet another tough loss as they fell victim to the Denver Broncos on Sunday 32-27. The Panthers had miscues and several routine plays that were not made and it ultimately cost them the game. 

Panthers head coach Matt Rhule met with the media following the game to talk about the loss.

RE: Opening Statement

"Obviously unbelievably disappointed with the result of today. I thought it was not our best, most well‐played football game. I thought our team showed a lot of heart fighting back to give us a chance. To have the ball at the end with a chance to go win the game, as has happened many times this year, but just not enough execution. Too much beating ourselves to win the game. Credit to Denver. They made plays when they had to. I think ultimately today, some key penalties really hurt us and weren’t able to make the plays down the stretch to win the game."

RE: What went wrong with the last offensive drive?

"Let’s start with that penalty. We had the ball at midfield, and it ended up being like a 20‐yard penalty, so critical. Obviously, that play, I did not want a play to run before the two‐minute. Unfortunately, we ran run right before the two‐ minute that wasn’t what we wanted, so I have to get that corrected. They made the plays, and we didn’t make the plays. We had been really hot, playing with a little bit of tempo the last couple of drives. We had to go close the game out and we had a great opportunity to and just weren’t able to get it done."

RE: Why did you run the play before the two‐minute warning and what was the design for the 4th‐and‐8 play? 

"Like I said, I did not want to run that play before the half, but ultimately, everything falls on me. That communication, I have to go back through and work with the staff to see how that happened. Then the 4th‐and‐8 play, we had Robby [Anderson] down the field and we had whomever, I forget, maybe Pharoh [Cooper] down the field, and so we expect that ball to be thrown past the sticks. Got beat on the twist inside. I haven’t talked to Teddy yet. I don’t know why that ball went there. Maybe he’s thinking he outruns him and it’s a first down but their player, number 41, made the play. Two plays that were not good enough plays to win the game."

RE: Delay of game penalty in the fourth quarter and his view of the Brian Burns roughing the passer penalty.

"The play on the touchdown when we had the ball down inside the six, Teddy [Bridgewater] recognized they were going to go to eight drop, so we alerted the play, alerted it too late. The play we had drawn up, not many plays that we have, there are some, not many plays – the plays that we had were not great versus eight drop and so we were down whatever we were at the time, I think eight, I just decided not to call the timeout. Throwing that ball versus that coverage, throwing that ball from the six or the nine, from the 10 or the 12, from the 10 or the 15, is about the same thing. I knew it was going to take probably two scores to win the game so I wanted to have the timeout so we could get the ball back at the end and win. That was that decision there. In terms of Burns, I thought he hit him. I thought he fell off to the side, especially looking at the replay. I think that was three plays in the first half that, three drives where a penalty extended the drive, whether it was a holding on the play with Troy Pride, whether it was that play or Jermaine Carter with the taunting. We stopped them down in the red zone. Just a lot of costly penalties in the first half to allow them to have the lead."

RE: Concern over the same issues in late game situations

"I don’t worry about our ability to handle adversity. I just think our execution has to be significantly better. You can’t have penalties like that. You can’t. I think we were third and whatever and we gave up a punt return for a touchdown. We had two guys there. We didn’t make a play. Just a lot of poor execution today. Cover three and they throw the ball over our heads for a touchdown. The fact that our team battles back, I’m not worried about their mindset. But we have to play better football and ultimately, as I said earlier, that all falls back on me. I’m certainly not worried about their mindset. They’ll continue to battle. At least that’s what I expect them to do."

RE: How do you solve the offense not being able to pull drives together at the end of games? 

"At the end of the day, without trying to sound too much like a coach, it comes down to execution. It comes down to us making the plays when the plays matter. I thought you saw an offense that was – really, we didn’t do anything all day, and then had in the fourth quarter a couple of really fantastic drives with tremendous tempo to go get the ball in the end zone. I expected us to go do that on that last drive and we didn’t. So I don’t put that on any one person. I put that on all of us collectively. We just have to execute. There is not much else to say other than that. We have to get the job done. We took a sack. Just a bunch of mistakes. We have to play better when it matters."

RE: What can you do to help team get past the one score losses with three games left?

"There really is not much else you can do other than keep working to get better. We are at the moment where we have the chance to go win the game. Again, I know we’re all going to focus on the end. I feel like there was some really bad execution in the first half. A bunch of things that shouldn’t have happened – a punt return for a touchdown. Late in the game, some things that happened shouldn’t have happened – penalties, taunting. I’m going to keep coming to work and keep fighting, scratching and clawing to get guys to understand that what you do really matters. You say, ‘oh, my bad.’ You can only say that so many times. We have got to coach well, and I feel, as I said again, I feel pretty good. I have come in here many of times and said, ‘hey, I’ve got to do better.’ Ultimately, I do have to do better because we are not winning but we need a tremendous sense of responsibility these last three games for everybody to get their job done. Even when it seems mundane or even when it seems trivial, you have to go do your job for us to win. That’s where we are. I don’t believe in panic. I don’t believe in huge, huge, huge changes in the middle of the season. I think you go through the season and you try to do what you do better. We have three more opportunities. I expect us to go find a way to win but this one, to be quite honest, this one is disappointing because we didn’t play to our standards certainly today."

RE: Do you have confidence that Teddy Bridgewater can be the quarterback as you build a winning program? 

"Absolutely. But I don’t think he is going to be successful in two‐minutes if he gets sacked on the first play. I don’t think he is going to be successful if we have drops. I think that all us have to continue to work together to improve. I think we were down by 15 and he brought us back and they scored again. So really, at the end of the day, he scored a bunch of points in the fourth quarter. I thought he was fantastic throughout the entire fourth quarter. Again, that penalty and then the first play sack, just has to be better by everybody. I’m not going to pin it on him. I’m sure he would be the first to say, ‘I have to do this, I have to do that.’ But there are a lot of things that have to be improved. We are a team that, for us to win, we have to do everything right and we have to play really well. We just played okay, and we didn’t do everything right. We had a chance to win but we didn’t come away with the win like I feel like we should have."

RE: Broncos QB Drew Lock

"We knew that he is a great fade ball thrower, so we decided not to play any press today. Now, a couple times guys played press but we kind of came in and said take away that press and we will try to keep him in the pocket. We didn’t do a great job of keeping him in the pocket. We pressured him. We got the ball out. If they had the great return, the bounce around play at the beginning of the game to get off the field. So, I thought we had a lot of good pressures against him. Really, he hurt us today with screens and two deep balls. Both those deep balls, to be quite honest, if we execute, they shouldn’t happen. If we are playing our assignments. I’m not talking about playing technique or playing, if we are just playing our assignments. Again, that was not a day that was up to our standards. Lock is a good, young player. He is going to do a lot of good things. You have to keep him in the pocket and not give up big plays. We haven’t given up big plays all year. We gave up big plays today. That’s what is really, really disappointing. We just have to get better."

RE: The plan for the cornerback rotation today

"Just as they played. As guys got tired or as they struggled, we rotated somebody in for them."

RE: The play of Panthers CB Rasul Douglas

"I want to make it clear, that the last deep one, that’s cover three. The deep safety should have been in the middle of the field. Sometimes things on TV look like a guy got beat. I think Rasul, like all of us, this wasn’t our best day."

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