Panthers HC Matt Rhule after win vs. Saints: ‘We have got to improve’

Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was visibly hyped up over his team’s dominant 27-6 win over the New Orleans Saints in his postgame presser. That, however, doesn’t mean he’s 100 percent satisfied.

When speaking to reporters following the victory, Rhule said there are still parts of the game the Panthers have to tighten up in moving forward, even at a 2-0 start.

“It was a good team win. Thought our guys played hard. A lot of things we have to get corrected,” Rhule said. “Too many coaching errors in the first half. Having to call timeouts because we have the wrong call in or one of our players getting confused. We have to clean a lot of things up.”

That may be the case, but the Panthers cleaned up the Saints with their performance. The loss for New Orleans snapped their 10-game NFC South win streak, their four-game Bank of America Stadium win streak and their four-game win streak over Carolina, period. Their 128 yards of total offense was also the fewest in the Sean Payton era.

In addition, his quarterback Sam Darnold tossed for 300 yards for the first time in almost two years. His 305-yard outing, although not perfect, helped pace a largely smooth outing overall.

Regardless, Rhule knows the Panthers have plenty of room to develop and build up their profile as a possible playoff contender.

“I’m sure they’re (Panthers players) happy we won. I want them to feel like ‘My hard work and preparation is working.’ I think, ya know, that’s the message,” Rhule said with a smile. “It’s not about ‘Am I good enough?’ It’s ‘Am I doing the right things to win?’ And they have to be honest about ‘Hey, this is what I need to do to improve.’ When you win a game, it brings another sort of set of problems. We have got to improve.”

The Panthers will have a short time to improve off the win, as they’ll head to Houston to take on the Texans this Thursday night. But Rhule and his guys deserve to bask in the glory of Sunday’s win, even if it’s only for a few hours.

Related

Panthers highlight: Rookie CB Jaycee Horn gets first career INT

List

4 takeaways from the Panthers' 26-7 upset over Saints