Panthers coach Ron Rivera saw an entire season derailed by injuries in 2016, when the Panthers became a 6-10 non-factor.
So just because a few key players were on the sidelines yesterday, he wanted to make sure his players knew he wasn’t satisfied with the performance of his offense during yesterday’s joint workouts with the Titans.
“Yesterday there were some really good things and today there were some things that were terrible,” Rivera said, via Bill Voth of the team’s official website. “We can’t have that. If we expect to win football games, we can’t do the things that we did today.”
Granted, quarterback Cam Newton was only a partial participant, and Rivera admitted he was “rusty” as he comes back from shoulder surgery. The Panthers were also without center Ryan Kalil, tight end Greg Olsen, and running back Jonathan Stewart for the work against the Titans.
But Rivera was salty about dropped passes and penalties, so he didn’t want to make excuses.
“Those are guys that you count on to come out on the football field and help create that cohesiveness,” Rivera said of the veterans getting days off. “Not having them out on the football field is huge. . . .
“The guys that dropped the balls were guys that had opportunities. They were good balls that got dropped. When the ball hits you in the hand, you’ve got to catch it. If the guy’s in front of you, you’ve got to block him. You know? Those are things that we didn’t do well today, and because of it, we didn’t look very good.”
The Panthers are in a delicate position this preseason, trying to implement some offensive wrinkles while their quarterback is on the mend. At the same time, they have a talented veteran roster, but it’s a bit on the top-heavy side. That means they want to develop some depth just in case their luck runs like last year (when injuries decimated their offensive line), but the results at the moment aren’t what Rivera wants to see.