New England Patriots 17, Carolina Panthers 3
DAVE CANALES: First of all, just want to say just how excited I was. Tonight was about our first-time guys, the rookies. The guys that haven't had a chance to play in the NFL and I think what they found is it's just football and they ran. They played hard. We had some great tackling, some great hitting. We desperately needed that this time of year to go full live all the way to the ground, and, I mean, I'll take a look at the film and kind of see what it was, but I didn't see a lot of missed tackles. I saw some really physical plays from the defensive side.
Offensively, played hard, played physical, but the execution just wasn't there. We put ourselves behind the sticks a bunch with some pre-snap penalties holding calls, things like that that I think we're going to have to work through, but when that happens, you know it just makes everything so much harder and what we'd like to be able to have those downs and be able to mix things more and to sustain drives, you know, that's something we've got to do. I thought the kicking units covered great. It was really fun to see the kick return, just the possibilities of what that can become and, again, just got to tip my hat to the Patriots. They played hard as well. They played cleaner football. They had nine penalties to our six, so we gave them that advantage right there from a field position standpoint which put a couple points on the board for them and just all in all, just for me, it was just a great opportunity to be able to talk to the coaches, talk to the officials, kind of have those conversations, you know, we had a chance to replay one, which George lee upstairs helping me with that was great. So it was just great reps for me to get the flow of how the communication happens and being able to work off that.
Q. Dave, obviously, not playing your starters was a conscious decision. How do you evaluate the game as a whole knowing you kind of went in shorthanded that way?
DAVE CANALES: Oh, I think just valuable reps, right? For these guys, the opportunity to play this in snaps in a preseason game for the guys that were up for this game, it's invaluable, Jack Plummer getting out there, you know, and had a rough night but it was just such -- it's he's first envelope game and hopefully we can get to the point and show him the film and just show him, hey, trust your preparation, trust your timing from practice, you know, and just to stay composed as the game went along because he was able to put a good drive together, but then we had the. Grounding penalty that kind of kicked us out of that advantageous field position that we had, so I just love the opportunity it gives for a lot of the guys for us to evaluate them.
Q. You get the Jets coming in next week. How much do you weigh those snaps versus getting your regulars into a game?
DAVE CANALES: Well, the practice, the joint practice is going to be a fantastic opportunity. We're still going to have to evaluate because of just sheer numbers we have to evaluate who we want playing in this game, because weave got them, we finish with five offensive linemen in this game. I got to tip my had to those guys up front, just hanging in there for the whole second half, so again, invaluable reps to kind of feel some of the parts of our system, the different calls, but I just love these guys for doing that, for being able to hang tight and work through it all the way.
Q. Did something happen to Cade along the way? I didn't hear an injury report.
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, Cade had a little bit of a shoulder injury. They're still checking that out and evaluating it. We'll have more information.
Q. How much did that impact things? I mean, even with everybody healthy you went into that guy with seven offensive linemen, that's basically one fewer than you would probably go into a regular season game with. How does that complicate what you're able to do?
DAVE CANALES: It does, for sure. That's some of the conversations we're going to have to have as far as who plays this week.
Q. Nash was inactive tonight.
DAVE CANALES: Yeah. So Nash and his wife are having a child so he stayed back, he stayed home to do that. I thought that was really important, you know, for him to be there to be with his wife, just a special moment that only come around every once in a while so for him to be able to do that was great, you know, and, again, just a tip of the cap for the guys that were able to stand in in his stead and I thought Andrew Raym. Center, rookie center came in and did a really good job right there.
Q. Now had a couple guys on defense seemed to make some plays first half particularly, Ekwonu and Lamar Jackson. I mean, could you talk about what they were able to offer on a night when it's a little bit of a mixed bag?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, Ikem, it just starts with a stream we played him so hard tonight and was playing physical and, again, I got to look at the film to see what the whole story was but the effort was there, the style of play was fantastic. Lamar made the most of the opportunities he was given and he made some great plays for us. He had a couple of great tackles and nice hits out there, too, so he really showed something and showed us something about him.
Q. Harrison got that last field goal. Is the idea to alternate him and Eddie if you're in more than one kicking situation?
DAVE CANALES: It was first half, second half, set up that kind of way. Wish I could have got Eddie an opportunity, but we just weren't flipping the field offensively.
Q. Was there anything -- I mean, you were still yourself on the sidelines during that game. Is it important to show the kind of consistency to the guys on a night when it's raining, it's preseason, regulars around playing?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah. Consistency is everything. I want them to know I'm for them. I have their back and really just pushing for the style of play, the great effort. It was there. The enthusiasm was there. The guys that didn't play, they were engaged. They were celebrating their teammates when they made plays. I love that. The toughness was there. Playing smart, part of our style. I don't think we got that one done offensively just with how many penalties we had and just how definitely we made it on an already pretty difficult night there and the finish. For Jake to come in with that last group, take us down the field, get the ball to some of our players in their hands and get us down there where we could get on the board was a really good feeling, just be able to stay with it, guys, we're playing for the first few minutes or however long it takes so I love the finish there.
Q. Did anything happen here tonight that maybe caused you to reconsider the way you wanted to play guys the next two games?
DAVE CANALES: It could -- I'll watch the film, we'll look at the numbers we have coming out of this and then we'll make decisions.
MODERATOR: Everybody good? All right thanks, coach.
DAVE CANALES: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports