Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales hit the nail on the head to begin his post-game press conference here in Week 9.
"When you play a good opponent, you have to minimize the mistakes," he told reporters following a bitter 26-21 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Sunday's defeat was filled with quite a few mistakes by the Panthers, who committed 13 penalties for a combined 119 yards. But there's probably one error, above all, that they'd like to have back.
That folly came towards the end of the third quarter, as Carolina led 14-13 and lined up for a first-and-goal from Denver's 1-yard line. Instead of a run, offensive coordinator Brad Idzik opted for a pass—which resulted in what was initially ruled an incompletion.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton,
however, would throw the red flag in a challenge that was acknowledged by the referees after the following play. And as it turned out, the ball actually found the hands of Denver safety Devon Key for an interception.
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Devon Key with an improbable INT for the @Broncos!
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That ruling, of course, was quite controversial—as the officials went as far as blowing the ensuing run dead before picking up on the challenge. Plus, there looked to be a bit of defensive pass interference that would've wiped out the pick anyway.
Regardless, it didn't break Carolina's way—and Canales was asked about the sequence of events later on in his presser.
"Well, they confirmed that he did throw the challenge flag before we snapped the ball on that very next play," he stated. "So, I gotta go from their word. I don't have that at my disposal, but they did confirm it that they got the flag out."
Quarterback Bryce Young, who threw the interception, wasn't as nice about it.
"That's a first for me in football, at any level," he said. "But we should never be relying on refs or calls and anything like that. It's on us to leave no doubt."
The Broncos cashed in on the takeaway, hitting the end zone off an 80-yard drive on the next possession. They'd follow that with another touchdown to extend their lead to 26-14 at the 5:41 mark of the fourth quarter.
While the refs may have overlooked the potential pass interference on tight end Tommy Tremble, perhaps it may not have been an issue if Carolina had run the ball a play earlier.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers HC Dave Canales, QB Bryce Young comment on controversial challenge from Week 9 loss
