Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers offense expressed frustration after a 17-7 home loss to the New Orleans Saints, a result that came just one week after their win in Green Bay. The defeat dropped the Panthers’ record to 5-5, impacting their playoff hopes.
Young addressed reporters with a direct assessment of the situation. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter,” he said when asked about missing an opportunity to improve their record. “There’s no long-term. We were 0-0 going into this game, now we’re 0-1, and that sucks.
“So we’ve got to turn the page.”
The Panthers struggled offensively, managing only 175 total yards compared to the Saints’ 388. After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive—their first since a previous loss at New England—the team produced just ten more first downs and gained only 108 yards for the rest of the game. Young completed 17 of 25 passes for 125 yards and threw one interception while also losing a fumble.
“A bad read, bad ball,” Young said about his interception. “Again, 100 percent my fault. That’s on me.”
“That’s on me, I always take that,” he added regarding his fumble with Jimmy Horn Jr. “Jimmy came up to me and to take accountability because that’s the type of competitor and the person he is, but, again, at the end of the day, I’m the guy who touched the ball, it’s on me. So we have to get that out of our system; stuff had to be better.”
Young acknowledged his frustration: “I don’t like to lose. No one likes to lose. I’m definitely frustrated,” he said. “But that frustration isn’t with the team… that’s frustrated because we didn’t win, we didn’t execute… that best version of ourselves that we’re chasing…”
Head coach Dave Canales dismissed suggestions that his team overlooked their opponent and focused instead on overall performance issues within his own squad.
“I certainly hope not,” Canales said when asked if they underestimated the Saints. “Our approach is to come back to work every week, regardless of the opponent… That was not our best today… so we have to make sure that we take the next opponent, look at what they’re doing, and have that type of mentality.
“Our mindset has to be to find our best… You respect a bunch of pros… And so we have to make sure that we’re detailed, we’re locked in…”
Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu pointed out shortcomings in preparation during practice leading up to Sunday’s game.
“I feel like at the end of the day, the mindset this week, the preparation this week wasn’t good enough…” Ekwonu said. He highlighted missed details throughout practices: “I mean there were too many repeats throughout the week… Just we just weren’t locked into small details…”
Ekwonu emphasized individual responsibility: “…it’s important to look within… make sure you’re focused and make sure you’re locked in…”
The locker room was quiet following Sunday’s defeat as players prepared for Tell The Truth Monday—a day typically used by teams for honest assessments.
“No one likes losing…” Young concluded about moving forward from defeat. “We’ll flush it tomorrow and get back to work.”
