The Carolina Panthers didn’t give the best account of themselves in their first real action of 2025.
Friday night marked the team’s preseason opener, which resulted in a 30-10 defeat at the hands of the visiting Cleveland Browns. The loss featured some not-so-sharp play from the Panthers, something head coach Dave Canales noted during his post-game press conference.
“Part of our play style is playing smart. I didn’t feel like we did that,” Canales stated. “I feel like there was sloppiness in some of the drives and we’re looking at first-and-15s, and we’re looking at some situations like that. We gotta take that, look at it and make sure that we continue to coach the technique better in some of those situations.”
Carolina committed six penalties, resulting in a total loss of 60 yards. One of those flags came for second-year wideout Xavier Legette, who was ejected following a scuffle in the first quarter with Browns cornerback Rayshaw Jenkins.
Canales did, however, credit some of his starters.
“I thought it was good to just kinda see some of the matchups that we took advantage of,” he said of the first-team offense. “And some guys made plays down the field. T-Mac [Tetairoa McMillan] made a nice play downfield. Jalen Coker comes in, when Xavier goes out, and did a fantastic job—like we didn’t skip a beat. Made some great plays. So, I saw some good rhythm.”
McMillan and Coker starred on the unit’s second possession of the game, where the former hauled in a 30-yard reception and the latter a 5-yard touchdown.
Canales told reporters that he may leave his starters out for three series instead of two for their outing in Houston next Saturday.
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