Panthers HC Dave Canales is asked about his head-scratching calls in Week 12 loss to 49ers

Dave Canales the play-caller did not have his finest showing here in Week 12.

The Carolina Panthers head coach characterized his team's 20-9 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night as a "game of missed opportunities." Those misses, many can argue, came as a result of a questionable approach from Canales—who made some head-scratching decisions under the prime-time lights.

Take the offense's second possession of the evening, for instance, where Carolina trekked all the way down to the San Francisco 1-yard line. And on a first-and-goal from that spot, Canales opted for a pass instead of a run—which resulted in an interception from quarterback Bryce Young.

Canales was asked about that call in his post-game press conference.

"Yeah, it was a great action," he replied. "He [Young] had Mitch [tight end Mitchell Evans] open up in the back half and there's an option, he can take off and run into the front pylon. He saw Mitch, and right when he turns back in, they had a defender on the edge who popped out and intercepted it. At that time, he made a great play on the ball.

"We've been running the ball there in that situation, and felt like we could get another chance to run at it if we didn't get the completion on that one. But I like the call. It was an aggressive call, a play-action that we had opportunities on. And unfortunately, came out with an interception."

The Panthers would continue to shy away from the run, even despite some success from running backs Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard. The two, combined, were dialed up for just nine rushing attempts.

Canales explained that he wanted to work off the 448-yard passing performance from Young in last Sunday's 30-27 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

"I just felt like building off what happened last week and just taking a step forward with the passing game—I saw some opportunities," he stated. "We were protecting pretty well, as far as pass protection goes. And just felt like we didn't come away with our opportunities consistently enough early on.

"And then in the second half—at a certain point, when the score becomes what it is—we gotta move it a little bit here and throw the ball around, and had some measure of success that way. And the run game seemed to be hitting pretty good. But I was trying to take advantage of it. They were playing some loaded boxes. They did a good job with their disguise in those areas, too."

Dowdle rushed for 38 yards on six carries (6.3 per attempt) while Hubbard went for 16 yards on three totes (5.3).

Young and the passing game netted just 161 yards.

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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers HC Dave Canales explains questionable calls in Week 12 loss