Dave Canales must halt Carolina Panthers' snowball effect misery in Week 8

The Carolina Panthers are once again coming off of an embarrassing loss this week and few things point to this changing. But they cannot play like it can't.

With another blowout on the books, the Panthers look to face a rising Denver Broncos team that just manhandled the New Orleans Saints and is most certainly riding high while looking ahead to who they are facing next.

What is the biggest issue that the Panthers need to focus on this week to try and keep things respectable? The snowball effect.

We have all been there at times in our lives for one reason or another. One bad thing goes wrong and that leads to another. The bad compounding on itself until it seems as if there is no way out. However, a lot of the time this is mental.

That is what separates the good from the great in the sports world. The ability to stop the stream before it turns into a flood. This is incredibly difficult to do when you are in a position like the one that the Panthers find themselves. With not much good to focus on and a whole lot of bad.

Carolina Panthers need to adopt a different mentality in Week 8

Being able to shrug off that one bad play and go out there and take the risk again on the next opportunity is what it means to be a superstar. The Panthers are in desperate need of that mentality.

Carolina's players cannot keep hanging their heads on the sideline and letting the opposition steamroll over them. It's been seen on countless occasions this season and must change as a matter of urgency.

This comes down to two things. Coaching and mentality.

On the coaching side of things, head coach Dave Canales needs to find a way to motivate his men without being constantly optimistic. Fans cannot truly know what is said behind the scenes, but this team needs to hear the cold truth while also being told to go out and compete no matter what the score says.

To be able to go out there after throwing a pick-six and put it to the opposition rather than going three and out. That's the mindset the Panthers need to adopt rather than wallowing in self-pity.

The Panthers need someone who has the energy and power to get in the face of his team and light a fire to get them going. There has to be gumption to keep their chances of being competitive alive.

Instead of coming together, the team is only getting further apart. The reintroduction of quarterback Bryce Young as the starter following the injury to Andy Dalton might just make that worse depending on how things go early on.

No matter who is leading this downtrodden franchise, there has to be a sense of pride and determination on the faces of the players that suit up. The kind of pride that those old words synonymous with the organization's success - Keep Pounding - should instill in everyone who hears them.

The Panthers may not win against the Broncos. They likely won't. But why should they play like the result is a foregone conclusion? There is a reason you play the games and anything can happen. So why not fight with everything in the face of adversity rather than accept this grave situation for what it is?

Carolina has to play hard and shrug off the bad plays to keep things manageable. And who knows, if things stay close, the improbable may just become probable.

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