The Carolina Panthers had a rough outing against the Houston Texans on Saturday en route to a 20-3 loss in their second preseason game. While the result doesn’t matter, the execution does right now, and on Saturday, the Panthers’ passing offense struggled to get anything going.
In 2025, the Panthers have higher expectations than they did last year, but they are also a young team trying to establish the habits of a winning culture. The first team’s offensive performance against Houston was a reminder of that.
With a few weeks of training camp left before the start of the season, the Panthers still have time to clean up their mistakes before the regular season starts, and they play the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road.
First Team Offense Couldn’t Get Going
The Panther offense couldn’t get out of the mud from the first possession. On the first play of the possession, quarterback Bryce Young targeted wide receiver Xavier Legette downfield, and the pass came up short and into the hands of star defensive back Derek Stingley Jr. Luckily for Young, the play was called back due to a defensive hold. Young tossed the ball up for grabs in what was essentially a free play.
Following the penalty, the Panthers didn’t make use of their second chance and proceeded to go three and out after a short run and two inaccurate passes. The Panthers’ second drive ended on a worse note after Young was sacked, bringing an end to the first team offense’s day.
Head coach Dave Canales took a glass-half-full approach to the offensive struggles on Saturday. Kassidy Hill, writing for Panthers.com, wrote about how, despite initially planning for three series for the first team, Canales pulled them after two due to great practice sessions in the previous days.
“I just wanted them to go out and earn another series,” explained Canales. “And I just really felt like, you know, with giving him two shots to do it and it not coming up, I wasn’t going to just put him back out there to kind of say, hey, let’s just play some more football. That kind of paired with we got great work two days ago, and I just kind of looked at it that way.”
While the first team offense struggled, the Panthers added injury to insult when the backups came in.
Andy Dalton Injury
Veteran backup Andy Dalton only saw six snaps before exiting the game on Saturday with an elbow strain. Dalton, in those snaps, went 2-of-4 for 22 yards in his one series before exiting. Jack Plummer replaced Dalton in the game.
Darrin Gantt of Panthers.com had Canales’ thoughts on Dalton’s injury after the game.
“Looks like an elbow sprain,” Canales said. “We’ll image it tomorrow, so I don’t really have the details of all that. He was moving it around fine. He said he feels fine, but we’ve got to take a look and see what happens there.”
The removal of Dalton seems to be purely cautionary, as backed up by long snapper JJ Jansen’s words when he spoke to Gantt after the game.
“It sounded like everyone was just treating him with the utmost of precaution,” Jansen said. “He was certainly acting himself on the sideline, helping with Jack, talking with the guys, connecting with the teammates. But when it’s the elbow and the throwing arm of a quarterback, much like pitchers in baseball, you always exercise some caution, especially in the preseason.”
The Panthers have avoided anything too serious with Dalton, so now they can fully focus on getting the offense cleaned up as the regular season quickly approaches.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Panthers Passing Offense Struggles in Preseason Defeat appeared first on Heavy Sports.