Dave Canales pleased with Bryce Young's day, team's overall progress as preseason ends

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales gives initial thoughts from today's action in Buffalo.

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

The Carolina Panthers closed out preseason play with a 31-26 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Shortly after the game, head coach Dave Canales met with the media to discuss Bryce Young's day, improvement from the offense, and several other key topics.

Opening statement

"Fired up for the guys. A great finish. Some great situational work, the two-minute before the half. I just want to mention, first off, we had Pete Hansen, our linebackers coach, call the defense in the first half. [He] did a fantastic job – was really clear, really calm in his communication getting things out there. Then in the second half, Jonathan Cooley, our pass game coordinator on the defensive side, called the game for the defense there. I thought it was really fun to see him have to get into some of those, 'Did he make it or not,' down by the red zone – some situations that brought up a lot of cool calls as we worked the whole field defensively. Both guys did a fantastic job. Then Brad Idzik called the second half last week and then called the second half this week again. So, you know, he did a fantastic job keeping our guys in rhythm, was really connected to Jack Plummer, who had a fantastic day, putting him in his comfort zone and getting plays that he can operate with. Really excited about those guys having the opportunities and taking advantage of it and really allowing me to – in those situations when Brad [Idzik] calls it – to really be in tune with the officials – the different calls and all that. That's really important and critical as we go forward."

Bryce Young's performance

"It was great, right? Couldn't have dreamt it better. A nice long drive, 12 plays to get the guys some good work, get them tired in the drive. A fourth down conversion in there, but saw [Bryce Young] extend plays with his legs, keeping his eyes down the field, finding guys. You can see the carry-over from practice to the game of people creating space, the play after the play. Those are the things that are so critical for us. He handled the run game with great expertise and got us to the right runs in those situations. So, I felt great about it. You know, would loved to have had Damien Lewis, would loved to have had Austin Corbett. Congratulations to the Corbett's. Cooper John Corbett, 10 pounds, four ounces, beautiful baby boy – really excited for them. ‘D. Lew’ [Damien Lewis] had a family matter. Anyway, we asked Andrew Raym to get in there, and he did a great job getting the snaps, making sure that our rhythm was where it needed to be. Bryce looked sharp. Diontae [Johnson], Adam [Thielen] looked great. Let's see. [Jonathan] Mingo had a couple of plays in there. I don't want to go through the whole list, but anyway, the first group I loved seeing them out there."

If there were considerations to not playing starters when Austin Corbett didn't make the trip

"Absolutely. What helped me have the confidence to do it is Chandler Zavala. [He] has done a fantastic job in this camp. Andrew Raym, he just keeps growing and learning. We felt like because of the chemistry of the snap, sometimes you don't want to be under center with a new center. So, we just kind of featured the pistol and the gun things, which gives them a clean snap point. He did a fine job there. So, for me, talking specifically to that, we wanted to see our skill players out there. We had Chuba [Hubbard], Miles [Sanders], Diontae [Johnson] and Adam [Thielen]. So that was a good group to be able to get a good look at what our systems are."

Expectations for Dane Jackson when he returns

"Dane [Jackson] has looked fantastic. He's tough. He challenges the ball in the air. All the stuff that we saw in free agency – just the style of play, the aggressive nature that he plays with. He's not one of those guys that's going to sit back. He's going to challenge stuff. So, he's been that, and we can't wait to get Dane back out there as our group gets stronger."

Eddy Piñeiro's injury

"He's fine. So, we had a situation right there at the end where we ended up getting a sack on third down. It really put us in like a short punt, really long field goal situation. It was just some soreness. We wanted to be smart with that, but had we gotten a positive play, we fully intended to kick that ball right there. So, that was just kind of – more of a just err on the side of caution with that."

The decision to rest Andy Dalton

"He felt ready. It was really me. It was really – I just saw putting Andy [Dalton] in a competitive situation after we've gotten him completely healthy, he's been out there. He had a great week of practice, and I thought, ‘If I put him in a competitive situation, he's going to go win.’ He's going to take off, and I just really thought this is a great opportunity to give Jack Plummer another chance to be evaluated. He took full advantage of that, which was awesome."

Winning and any momentum into Week 1

"Certainly, there's a confidence that comes with winning. My goal today was to just get them some live reps, get them tired, to get them out there playing enough to where they can kind of just feel their conditioning coming into effect because there's confidence that comes with that. That was the goal. The goal was to kind of get the feeling and the mix of the calls. Here's the rhythm of how I call things for Bryce [Young], so he can start to anticipate what I might be going to in those different modes. Then for the defense as well, just to play with each other. There's a bunch of guys who haven't played together in live games. So just to get them out there, communicate, work with each other, team tackle, use their leverage and all that together."

What he found out about this team during the preseason

"I would say the finish. It's something that I harp on, but can they do it? I've seen our guys play 60 minutes of good, aggressive football. No quit in this group. It's something that I hope that we continue to build on, so saw that. Saw some aggressive play. I think just in general, too, guys really just taking to coaching week-to-week. There were things we emphasized. They improved it. I've said this a lot about this group, but the challenges that we've given them from a coaching staff, they've taken those challenges to heart. It matters to them. I see a group that really cares, a group that really enjoys each other. It's something to definitely build off of."

Starters only playing one drive on offense

"Yeah, it was a feel thing, right? If you go in and get three plays and kind of get out, you still take advantage of – I could feel the difference in the locker room of guys getting ready to play, and that's the purpose of doing it. The bonus is when you have extended drives so that you can really tap into their fitness levels and be able to focus and get the calls that way."

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