Panthers fan questions these routes that Dave Canales dialed up vs. Broncos defense

One Panthers fan noticed an interesting play design vs. the Broncos and called into question Dave Canales' playcalling.

Aug 24, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales watches a play against the Buffalo Bills in the third quarter pre-season game at Highmark Stadium. / Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

Dave Canales is in his first year as the Carolina Panthers head coach. It's his first year coaching at that level after just one of being an offensive coordinator. His ascension to head coach was rapid, and there are some learning curves to it. Canales, at times, has struggled with the Panthers. Perhaps the best example is seemingly from Sunday's loss against the Denver Broncos.

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Route design and scheme are important an NFL offense's success. That's something Dave Canales undoubtedly knows, but a Panthers fan caught one call in particular that seems to indicate otherwise. During the eventual 28-14 loss, it appeared as if Canales called a play with five receivers all running the same route.

All five of the possible pass-catchers on the play were running a slant, which would be a laughably bad play design. Ironically, it worked for a short completion, but the vast majority of successful offensive plays come because there was some route variety.

The receiver who caught the pass was right next to someone running his exact same route, so it's fortunate that this play wasn't a disaster. It is possible that the receivers ran the wrong routes, since this game was led by two rookies (one undrafted) and a second-year player at wide receiver.

Still, Canales has at times struggled to come up with good offensive plays. For every play he designs that either works well or was a clever call that kept the defense off-balance, there's a complete dud. On fourth-and-short, Canales dialed up a triple option with Bryce Young, Chuba Hubbard, and Miles Sanders. It went for negative yards.

In a previous game, he called a fourth-down handoff with a fake rollout option that was blown up immediately. Had Andy Dalton kept the ball on the bootleg, he could've run for the first or pitched to Sanders for the first, but the Hubbard run was stuffed. Moments like those remind fans everywhere that Canales has just one year of playcalling under his belt.

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