Many things didn’t go as planned in the Carolina Panthers’ Week One game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. There were turnovers, there were drops, and perhaps most glaringly, there were communication issues.
During the game, the Panthers were often too slow breaking the huddle. This has been an issue that has plagued the Panthers since the start of the offseason.
During the Panthers’ Fan Fest practice in August, the team experienced multiple procedural issues. Kassidy Hill of Panthers.com detailed head coach Dave Canales’ unhappiness with the operation.
We got to make sure that we, whether it’s the cadence or we going early, whatever the thing is, we got to talk through that,” the Panthers‘ head coach said. “But it was very sloppy.”
The Panthers have specifically focused on fixing this issue this week.
Cleaning Up Communication
The Panthers understand that the most crucial aspect of a play is actually getting it off and executing it effectively. Too many times against the Jaguars, the clock ticked down too far, or the team broke the huddle too late.
Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik focused on getting the offense’s communication in check during practice this week. Kassidy Hill and Darin Gantt of Panthers.com wrote about Idzik trying to correct the errors in their September 11 article.
“That’s the first thing we did this week is challenge guys,” Idzik said. “Just talking about being urgent into and out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage so we can start to digest information as soon as possible, getting looks in the run game, getting our points right and getting the communication echoed out up front.”
Idzik has stressed the “brevity of communication” as his key talking point this week.
“Brevity of communication. So, coupling the tempo of getting in and out of the huddle, the tempo of getting the play called is not adding fluff in our communication,” Idzik continued.
The team is addressing the issues from Week One while also preparing for Week Two.
Compartmentalizing Week One
Quarterback Bryce Young had a rough first game of the 2025 season, throwing multiple interceptions. However, he’s taking this as another learning experience and moving on to the Panthers’ Week Two opponent, the Arizona Cardinals.
Darin Gantt, in his September 10 article for Panthers.com, wrote about Young taking the lessons from Week One and moving on to the next game.
“We come in on Monday, we watch the film, we go in with a growth mindset,” Young said on Wednesday. “Watch every play, analyze everything, talk about it, and then we figure out what it is that we can take from there, learn from there. And then we have a deadline of coming back to a meeting, and now we’re on to the next team.”
Young’s backup quarterback, Andy Dalton, also emphasized the importance of moving on after analyzing the previous week’s film.
“We literally watch the tape, then the tape’s over, we start watching the next team we’re playing,” Dalton said. “And to be honest, there was a shift in mood once we went from one to the next.”
With a lot to clean up and analyze from Week One, the Panthers will attempt to correct their glaring issues and get back on track against the Cardinals.
Brevity in Communication Key for Panthers