— The expectations for the Panthers are not high, which is what happens when you go 2-15 the season before and don’t have a first-round pick.
But Canales said Tuesday he believes the Panthers can compete in an improved NFC South, which is a thing that any coach would say.
After discussing all the moves in the division this year, including Atlanta adding coach Raheem Morris and quarterback Kirk Cousins, Canales said he thinks the NFC South is now “a dangerous division.”
“I really just think people are going to be really surprised about this year and the level of football that comes out of it,” he said. “I think we’re going to be competitive for the division this year. And what I’m saying is if we play good football, if we can get the football right, like we believe we can, and we can take care of the football, that the numbers take care of themselves. We’ll be in the hunt, and we’ll be in every single game, which will give us an opportunity to be in the hunt for the division at the end.
“And if we can play great defense and run it, it will carry us right into the late into the season.”
He was then asked how he’d talk about expectations since the Panthers’ being competitive is not a universally shared opinion.
“For me, it starts with the division, so you’re looking to win the division every year,” he said. “You’d love to win the championship, but it all starts off by winning the division. How can we do that? And then you work backward from there. We’ve got to get our football right. . . .
“Every one of those games is going to be a huge opportunity for us to become us to see what version of football we want to play. We want to walk out of that field saying this is Panthers football. It’s tough, it’s fast. It’s physical, it’s really intelligent.”
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