Q. Dallas Cowboys 30, Carolina Panthers 14
DAVE CANALE: Ten points off of turnovers, but just giving their offense opportunities and then in the first half, you know, giving up some big plays in the pass game and then in the second half with the lead, they went right to the run game and we weren't able to get them off the field that way, and then you're playing from behind. We play to their strengths and they have a good pass rush unit and they got after us, you know, with the sacks, and a couple of pressure situations, you know, where we played it right into their hands and they were able to attack us defensively, and then -- and then stick with the run game and then kind of ran out of chances, ran out of turns there at the end. That's kind of the story of the game.
Again just address the group. Like that's not the brand of football we want to play. We've got to take care of the ball so we can be balanced and we can continue to mix our runs and passes in offensively and then defensively get them into more pass situations. So a really challenging day for us.
Q. Was Bryce having trouble gripping the ball? It looked like there was several passes that wobbled out of his hand and then a couple of the strip sacks.
DAVE CANALE: I don't know that, certainly a couple throws got a way from him.
Q. Week-to-week on Bryce, four turnovers, career high. Is he going to remain your starting quarterback?
DAVE CANALE: Yeah, Bryce will play next week. Yeah.
Q. A lot of peaks and valleys in this game, the first drive and the fumble and then you get the touchdown, first play out of the half. The offense, especially, has done a good job staying consistent. Is that something that you guys were struggling with, Dallas being part of that? Where did you see the disconnects?
DAVE CANALE: I've got to look at the film but just from a glance there was a missed block here or there. There was just some execution stuff that happened, and then at a certain point, we've got to go.
We've got to start throwing it and try to be more aggressive with it and they were able to come up with some really good rushes on us and put us in bad situations, second and longs. Certainly the penalties, too. That was another thing that showed up that put us in difficult spots, as well. A lot of stuff we have to clean up.
Q. The turnovers, they seemed to come in bunches. Did you notice confidence leaving him today?
DAVE CANALE: He had a good look in his eyes, and so I was looking forward to continue just being aggressive and trying to find those opportunities that we had down the field.
So I thought he maintained that. I thought he kept fighting. Had the nice, long drive there at the end. You know, the touchdown drive before the last one. So felt like the guys were continuing to fight but there was just a lot to clean up.
Q. The pass protection had been good, recently and all season, was there a common denominator today in the pressure they were able to get?
DAVE CANALE: Well, I think Micah Parsons is a special player. He's got some wins out there. I think it was the mode; that when they put us in this mode where we're playing from behind, and we have to go for it and we have to throw the ball and try to flip the field and try to get points. You know, we play into the opponent's hands in that regard, and it allows them, Coach Zimmer with a really good pressure package and just some good players up front.
Certainly put us in a brand of football we don't really want to play, but we have to go there when we do.
Q. How deflating is it when you put together this good first drive, and then that fumble by Bryce, how deflating was that fumble in and of itself because it seemed like things started to spiral?
DAVE CANALE: That's the challenge. When you have a successful drive ending in a turnover, the challenge is you have to snap pack and a okay, these are the things that led to the success of that drive and just return to it and we weren't able to return to it in the course of the first half there.
You bring up a good point. We have to be able to say, okay, this thing happened. Let's just reset and let's just get back to our football.
Q. Injuries continue to mount on defense. Can you speak to how Jewell (ph) did filling in for Wallace?
DAVE CANALE: I thought he did fine. Got to watch the film. He was out for a little while and returned to play. We'll follow-up and see where he's at.
Q. What was his injury, and what do you say about him gutting it out in the second half?
DAVE CANALE: It was a foot injury. That's as much as I can give you right now. I'm sure we'll gather more information after that.
Q. Seems like this special teams return unit, especially your ace, seemed to talk a lot after plays and there have been some unnecessary roughness penalties, penalties in general, how do you Korean that up?
DAVE CANALE: Just something we have to get out of our football. We are addressing and talking to the guys. They play with a lat of passion, a lot of heart. They are aggressive by nature with you we can't have the extra stuff. This game is too hard. The NFL is to hard to give the opponent any advantage and you tack on 15 yards after a coverage or after a return, those things, they add up.
Q. Why didn't Eddie kick off today?
DAVE CANALE: We had a plan. We had Johnny with some different kicks. He executed them pretty well. Put a couple balls in the landing zone and got them on the ground to kind of slow up Turpin a little bit. I thought it worked out pretty well for us in terms of our coverage unit being able to get down there rally up and tackle.
Q. Out for --
DAVE CANALE: No.
Q. How did the refs explain that personal foul call on woods? Seems as if the Panthers tend to be on the short end of the stick when it comes it that type of stuff.
DAVE CANALE: Yeah.
Q. Do you feel that same way and do you get explanations from the officials?
DAVE CANALE: They explained it as a hit on a defenseless receiver. We were fighting like crazy to say it wasn't to his head or neck area and from their vantage point that's what they saw. That's what they flagged. It was a really hard hit. Again, it's at the official's discretion.
Q. Referenced not being able to get the defense off the field in the second half. How frustrating is that when you wanted to feel like you could get back in the game and you just couldn't get the ball back?
DAVE CANALE: It is and it's frustrating for the whole group and they take a lot of pride in working on our game and the things we need to improve. But you know, it allows them to play a style of football they want to. They get a lead, love to control it by running the ball and there's a bunch of missed tackles out there and things that we have to shore up and look at this week.
Q. Today feels like a regression overall. I know that's not the type of football that you played the last four or five weeks.
DAVE CANALE: Absolutely. The biggest part of it is just the ball security, right. Making sure that we end the down with the ball. As long as we have the ball, we can manage, if it's a sack, it's a sack. We can figure it out, what to do next. But when we have those turnovers and we flip the field and we gave them ten points there, just it does make it more difficult.
It doesn't make it impossible. But it does make it more challenging, and then everything else, your execution from then on out is at a premium and that's where you have to play really clean football. Yeah, it was definitely not the type of ball we want to play.
Q. Building off that, competing with some of the best teams in the NFL and a favorite for the first time is the season. Was there a sense of complacency you could detect in practice this week?
DAVE CANALE: Not at all. This is a group that's been battling for everything. Even in games where we are playing teams tight it's because we are controlling the football. It's because we are putting ourselves in positions to have success or to play to win the game at the end, and today we did not do that.
So we just look at it as this opponent, regardless of what the points spread and all that stuff, it's about us. It's about our execution and it's about us doing right.
Q. Legette?
DAVE CANALE: We have to do the follow-up and see where he's at this week.
Q. What is it?
DAVE CANALE: It's a groin. We'll get all the information on the severity and the timeline and all that for you.
Q. Every week we're talking about the run defense and you talk about the technique and being in the right gap and everything like that. But it seems like every week, somebody is getting a new career hire high or rushing for a lot of yard. How do you hold the guys accountable behind the scenes as far as making sure guys are actually doing their job in the run game?
DAVE CANALE: Yeah, we've just got to go right off the film and just look at the fundamentals of the call, where people are supposed to be, getting guys down. Keeping them from getting those extra yards and all that, and so we've just got to return to the basics. That's really what you have is to look at the film. Here is the basics of how this call is supposed to be fit versus these styles of runs and just continue to ask the guys to press into that.
Q. Do you remain confident in the 3-4 base?
DAVE CANALE: Absolutely.
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