Dave Canales went from being under pressure over the early stages of the campaign to leading a mini-renaissance. The Carolina Panthers have quietly won three of their last four games, and they've got a good chance to keep this sensational run going when they travel to the New York Jets in Week 7.
The Panthers are brimming with confidence. Canales is at the heart of everything good, with his boundless enthusiasm, culture shift, and innovative offensive ideas slowly coming to life. Carolina looked down and out just a few short weeks ago. Now, people are starting to look at them differently.
And Canales got the highest possible praise thanks to a recent revelation from ex-Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme.
Dave Canales is even starting to confuse Carolina Panthers legend Luke Kuechly
Delhomme, of course, handles radio game-day duties for the Panthers alongside future Pro Football Hall of Famer Luke Kuechly. He was renowned for dissecting plays and reacting quickly, but even the former linebacker is becoming confused by the way Canales is going about his business schematically.
"I watch him diagnose an offense. He recognizes certain formations and things, and he'll make hand gestures, like he thinks there's a screen coming or he thinks it's going here. You just see the robotic nature of how he played and looked at. Last week against Miami, he took the headset off and said, 'Canales knows how to call plays.' I said, 'What makes you say that?' 'He's keeping me confused on a couple of things, and it's working.'"Jake Delhomme
If Canales is confusing Kuechly, one of the best prepared, cerebral linebackers of all-time, he must be doing something right. And the offensive progress, especially over the last two games, speaks for itself.
Canales always had the ideas, but he never had the personnel. Gradually, everything has come together, finally allowing the head coach to deploy his preferred strategy.
The Panthers have two explosive running backs capable of carving up big yardage behind an outstanding offensive line. This allows for misdirection and play-action in the passing game, which plays to quarterback Bryce Young's strengths as a quick processor with reasonable anticipation on his throws.
This is nice, and it's a sign of how respect is building. At the same time, Canales knows this means nothing if the Panthers cannot build on this and become a team capable of being competitive and contending every year. That's the overall goal, and it doesn't change just because performances get better for a brief period.
Canales knows that, but it's not hard to see why the tide is starting to turn. And for once, it's in a positive direction.