Panthers head coach Dave Canales knows Saturday’s playoff game against the Rams isn’t just another game. But he also doesn’t want his players to think of it as too big a game.
Canales said he thinks players who haven’t played in the playoffs before have benefited this week from the veteran players who have been to the playoffs talking about simultaneously recognizing it’s a big game and not going overboard.
“It is special, and it’s important that we recognize that, we lean into it and we feed off that energy,” Canales said. “At the same time, we’ve got to keep our head about us and execute on the most fundamental parts of it. Because if you get too excited and caught up in the moment, you can sacrifice technique, and sometimes you can go too far and that’s not what I want either.”
The Panthers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2017 and they haven’t won a playoff game since winning the NFC Championship Game after Cam Newton’s MVP season of 2015. This is not a Panthers team with much playoff experience, and Canales wants to ensure the many players on his team who have never been in a playoff game before are approaching Saturday the right way.
