The NFC South was there for the taking on Sunday. But the Carolina Panthers, as they have all season, backed themselves up against the wall.
A win over the Seattle Seahawks and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss here in Week 17 would’ve given the Panthers their first division title since the 2015 campaign. And while they got some help on the latter, in a 20-17 victory by the Miami Dolphins, they couldn’t take care of the former—thanks to a crushing 27-10 loss of their own.
Head coach Dave Canales was asked about missing out on the huge opportunity, and told reporters that his team’s focus will have to quickly shift to next week—in a potential winner-take-all showdown for the NFC South against the Bucs.
“Yeah, we definitely feel the missed opportunity,” Canales stated. “But at the same time, we know it’s in front of us, it’s clearly defined. It was gonna come down to this game, us handling our business and facing the Bucs one more time in the last game of the season. Couldn’t ask for a better situation than this.”
Seattle’s defense stood tall all afternoon, holding Carolina to just 139 total yards. The Panthers, in addition, converted on just one of their 11 third-down tries and two of their five fourth-down tries.
Canales was later asked if being entrenched in high-stakes football for the last handful of weeks has prepared his team for Week 18.
“It’s to have that mindset—to know that each game truly is a championship opportunity,” Canales replied. “Here, we had one today, against a fabulous team. We couldn’t ask for a better situation here to see where we’re at, and to see if we can call it up and play a really good team and come away with it.
“And we weren’t able to do that, but we have another opportunity in front of us. The guys will be used to having this championship mindset. The way I see it is we’ve been playing playoff football for over a month, and every single one of these games has mattered. And that’s the approach that we have to take. It heightens the focus and the guys come in ready to work.”
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers HC Dave Canales talks about huge missed opportunity in Week 17
