New Orleans Saints 17, Carolina Panthers 7
DAVE CANALES: First and foremost, give credit to the Saints for executing a game plan. They came in here, they had a style about how they were going to do it. Came out with some big plays, some explosives which is an area we have to make sure we shore up there. Some great one-on-one opportunities they took advantage of. We turned the ball over twice, they didn't. We were fortunate, got the ball back after the P.A.T. and didn't turn that into points right there. That was certainly a big one in the game. Missed opportunities across the board and I just look at it and I got to do a better job.
I got to do a better job of making sure we have answers and complements to our run game. They did a fantastic job caking care of that part of it and we hit a couple of passes but not enough. I got to make sure that we put our heads together and game plan so that we have answers for when a team makes it difficult to run the ball.
Q. Dave, why does this passing game struggle to create consistent vertical plays?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, that's something we're working on. It's just taking advantage of those opportunities one-on-one down the field. It comes down to just me to you factor and making plays. At the same time, from a game plan standpoint, I got to make sure we're putting our guys in the rights, taking advantage of match-ups.
Q. What were the Saints' receivers doing to keep the secondary off balance?
DAVE CANALES: They just made their plays. Some phenomenal one-on-one opportunities. Obviously the long touchdown. Jaycee will be the first to tell you he can stay up and make that play right there. Olave made another one-handed grab right in front of our sideline. They came up with a couple of big plays there. Extended on a couple of off-rhythm throws. Tyler Shough did a great job of extending the play, finding guys down the field. In the extension of it, we have to do a better job containing him there and making sure we stay attached. We did not get that done.
Q. Jaycee seemed to be asking for OPI on that play. From what you saw...
DAVE CANALES: I mean, I don't know. I'll have to look at it. I'll have to look at the replay on that one. I think he'd be the first one here to tell you and talk responsibility for the one-on-one opportunities. Regardless of what's happening on the other side, we got to make sure we stay on top and make those plays.
Q. What are the limitations in the passing game that you think are holding this offense back right now?
DAVE CANALES: I think it's just timing and rhythm but also it's the choices. The type of passes, that's something that starts with me and I got to make sure I look at that and make sure we're putting our guys in the right situations with the match-ups and leverages that we're working with to give them access so that Bryce feels confident to throw to the guys in different spots.
Q. What did you see on the interception?
DAVE CANALES: Just a good play by the buzz defender. He ran underneath number 1 outside, made a great play on the ball. Bryce would love -- I'm sure he would tell you he'd love to have is that one back. It was a really nice play by Alontae Taylor. Give him credit for that.
Q. What do you think of Bryce in the locker room of what feels like a letdown here?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, just frustration because we didn't play our version of football. That was not us. We can't have that. We can't give up big plays. We can't turn the ball over. Offense has to be more opportunistic and take advantage of some of the situations. The defense made some adversity stops for us and got us the ball back over and other in the second half. We didn't come away with anything off of it.
Q. Were you surprised with the way they handled the offensive and defensive front?
DAVE CANALES: Surprise bid how they did? No. This is a team that regardless of their record, they've been playing hard. They got a good group of veteran guys to make it difficult. They have excellent schemes and all that and they put it together today and we didn't take advantage of our plays.
Q. Dave, when you guys can't run the ball consistently, you have struggled mightily to kind of keep pace. How do you find answers in the passing game when Rico proves to be human?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, that's what we're working on. We have to make sure we take advantage of that, the loaded line of scrimmage. We got a couple plays out there just trying to find those right styles for our guys based on what the coverages that they're playing is.
Q. It seemed like defensively you guys, they kept you guys in it but in particular Nic Scourton was everywhere in the backfield today. Where have you seen his growth from day one until now?
DAVE CANALES: He's taking great strides. Week in and week out he gets better and he's into it. He's working hard. He's improving, taking to the coaching and applying it to the game so I'm really proud of him for that but there are some technique things, some little stuff that we have to make sure we're disciplined on. It starts with the run game and certainly with our pass rush and lanes and letting Tyler get out a couple of times to make these plays. We got to do a better job there.
Q. What did you see from the missed field goal?
DAVE CANALES: A block. I just saw a good push. We knew that about this group. They're a big group, really physical on the inside. They have their best guys out there pushing the guards and doing things and they executed it really to perfection to get the ball down and we hustled to get the ball back once it advanced past the line of scrimmage. They were reviewing that for a while but it was a really well-executed block.
Q. Was his kick low or...
DAVE CANALES: I don't know. I'll have to look at it again to see if it was lower than normal. I just know that they got good push and got their hands up.
Q. This team has been pretty opportunistic this season. To have the two turnovers come when they did, after the extra chance with the blocked field goal and the fourth down spot. How deflating was that?
DAVE CANALES: It was frustrating, you know? But we have to go to the next drive and hope that we can get another opportunity to try to turn this game around. In the moment you just got to go to the next drive. You got to refocus. As we sit here and look back at it, we're sick about the opportunities that we missed.
Q. What are you seeing from Legette? He doesn't seem to be a factor and at certain times, he just kind of disappears.
DAVE CANALES: I think X is running fast. He's doing everything we ask of him. I think if you just broaden it out a little bit and look at the full group, we need better execution in general and that starts with me. That starts with myself and making sure that we have the right schemes for our guys.
Q. On the jet sweep, Dave, with the fumble, did he think he was getting the ball? What happened?
DAVE CANALES: Absolutely, it was just a poor exchange and we got to make sure that we're sharper on all those little things.
Q. Your overall assessment of Bryce today, it looked like one of his worst performances.
DAVE CANALES: I think just generally it's our group, making sure that we are advancing our pass game so we can be a balanced offense and making sure that we know, yes, we can run the football but there are going to be days like this where a team is stout and they play us well, we have to be able to adjust and go to that next phase of our game and make that come alive.
Q. Following up on that, what are your thoughts on how Bryce is throwing the ball?
DAVE CANALES: I think he's throwing the ball great. I think he'll have some plays that he'll tell you that he would like to have back, but in general, this is not about Bryce, this is about me. This is about our group. This is about us taking the steps so we can be a balanced offense.
Q. Was T-Mac 100% today or how close was he?
DAVE CANALES: He looked great, yeah. He looked great to me.
Q. Do you feel like you guys are spreading the ball around enough? Prior Bryce's injury, he was kind of like to everybody, but, like, the last couple of games, it's been pretty much situated on T-Mac and a few others.
DAVE CANALES: I think general pass game success will get the ball distributed but we have to find that rhythm and the ball will find guys in different zones, different areas based on where the read goes. We certainly try to make T-Mac an emphasis of what we're doing and that continues to be a part of what we're doing but we count on the other guys to make these plays as well but it's collectively where we have to go as a pass game.
Q. Is there any possibility that 6-4 right ahead of you, is there any possibility that y'all might have looked past the Saints this week?
DAVE CANALES: I certainly hope not. Our approach is to come back to work every week regardless of the opponent. We're in pursuit of our best football. That was not our best today. We did not let the things that we have been successful with come alive today, so we have to make sure that we take the next opponent and look at what they're doing and have that type of mentality. Our mindset has to be to find our best, our best football. It can't depend on who the opponent is and how you respect a bunch of pros and every week they're going to bring a bus full of pros every week and so we have to make sure we're detailed, locked in and get back on track with our work.
Q. Do you have an update on Trevin Wallace?
DAVE CANALES: Trevin, we're evaluating him for right shoulder so we'll have more information as the week goes on.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports