An hour-and-16 minute weather delay might have been the least-regrettable aspect of the Carolina Panthers’ ugly Week 1 blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at EverBank Field.

Carolina’s dreadful debut featured a litany of miscues in a 26-10 road defeat. Quarterback Bryce Young had a pair of first-half turnovers, the defense allowed 134 rushing yards by the end of the second quarter, and the Panthers produced just two scoring drives the entire game.

The Panthers were able to score a field goal on their initial drive, but the Jaguars scored 20 consecutive points, with 10 coming off Young’s first two giveaways. The offense wasn’t able to produce a touchdown drive until there was 4:47 left in the game.

It was par for the course for a Week 1 game for Carolina over the past five years. And if history continues to repeat itself, the Panthers will continue to look like first-half fodder to their opponents over the next several weeks.

Here are five takeaways from another forgettable first regular-season game for the Panthers:

Dave Canales is going to wear this one for a while

For a second consecutive Week 1, the Panthers have looked unprepared and overwhelmed by a team that is projected to be mediocre.

The New Orleans Saints throttled the Panthers, 47-10, last year before going 5-12 on the campaign and firing then-head coach Dennis Allen in the middle of the season. The Jaguars, most likely, aren’t as good as they looked against Carolina’s woeful operation, either.

The preseason play wasn’t encouraging, and Canales’ decision to rest the starters in the exhibition finale looks even more puzzling in hindsight, especially after the offensive group produced three three-and-outs and one touchdown drive.

Canales was able to turn things around — relatively — down the stretch of last season. But in his second campaign as head coach, he shouldn’t be given as much patience. Sure, Panthers owner David Tepper is likely to give Canales a relatively long runway, but Canales can’t let this team crumble early on. The margin for error is thinner, the pressure is greater, and the outlook of projected incompetence can’t be tolerated.

This offense is still a shoulder shrug. The defense is consistently overmatched.

And even worse, hope is already hard to cling to after just one week.

Bryce Young has to be better

After building up an immense sense of goodwill, locally and nationally, with his second-half performance from last year, Young essentially melted away in the Jacksonville heat.

He had a 26.2 passer rating at halftime after completing 7 of 15 passes for 47 yards and an interception. He also fumbled away a run late in the second quarter that potentially took a field-goal off the board for Carolina.

Young looked sharp throughout the summer, but his brief preseason misgivings carried over to the regular-season opener. He looked flustered in the pocket, and while he ran the ball effectively on scrambles, he ultimately didn’t make consistently good decisions with the ball.

It’s also worth considering having a long conversation about Young and center Austin Corbett’s lack of cohesion during the opener. There were quite a few troubling snaps to Young, and that’s a tough look for a pair that have worked together at their positions in each of the past two summer.

Young was terrible on Sunday. That isn’t debatable. He completed 18 of 35 passes for 154 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran for 40 yards, but that wasn’t enough to boost the offense into success. He had a 49.0 passer rating.

Safety and linebacker are worthwhile concerns

The Panthers’ run defense continues to be the team’s Achilles heel under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.

The Jaguars ran for 134 yards in the first half. That total was highlighted by a 71-yard gain by Travis Etienne. The Jaguars running back shook outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum into safety Tre’von Moehrig and then went off to the races after eluding safety Nick Scott. Linebacker Christian Rozeboom was able to chase Etienne down the field, but that run essentially put the Jaguars in the red zone after one play in the series.

The big Etienne run followed a few rough moments in the passing game for the safeties and linebackers. Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence continued to target the middle of the field throughout the first half, collecting yardage left and right by throwing to his tight ends against Scott and Moehrig. Linebacker Trevin Wallace also seemed to get lost in the shuffle on a wide-open touchdown completion to Jaguars tight end Hunter Long.

Last year, the Panthers gave up the most rushing yards in a season since 1980. They allowed the most points, granted in a 17-game season, as well. With Sunday’s performance, even after adding the likes of Moehrig, Pat Jones, Turk Wharton, Bobby Brown and more, it still felt like the same concoction of confounding carnage for Evero’s unit.

The defense allowed two touchdowns, 178 passing yards, 202 rushing yards ... and dozens of headaches.

Chuba Hubbard continues to be one of the few to rely on

The Panthers have one true dependable player on offense: Hubbard.

The well-paid running back consistently does his job and does it well. And while most teams don’t want to be defined by their running game, Hubbard rarely loses yardage with the ball.

The Panthers need to continue to feed him, especially as Young looks so strikingly inconsistent. The Panthers are paying their offensive line a fortune, and Hubbard is here for the long haul, focusing on those two variables is essential.

On fourth-and-1 from the 6-yard line, the Panthers called a passing play with an empty backfield, and they predictably failed to convert on the cusp of the end zone. Young had fully covered targets and he was forced to throw the ball away. It was a brutal moment in a brutal game.

The Panthers should have trusted their top playmaker with another carry after Hubbard had a strong first half against the Jaguars’ front seven.

Hubbard finished the game with 16 carries for 57 yards. He also had three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.

Hey, at least the kicker did his job ...

Rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald didn’t get a strong endorsement from Canales heading into the first week of the season. He was arguably one of the most scrutinized rookies in Panthers camp, even after he earned the job over journeyman Matthew Wright.

But on Sunday in Jacksonville, Fitzgerald made a 48-yard field goal in the first quarter and an extra point in the fourth quarter. While it’s tough to count on rookie kickers, Fitzgerald was a rare bright spot in the game. His first two kickoffs were terrific, as he launched the ball in the launch zone perfectly, and the coverage unit was able to stop the Jaguars for limited gains, compared to a 35-yard touchback.

Still, the faith was questionable. At the end of the first half, Canales elected to punt the ball instead of opting to kick a 57-yarder. The ensuing Jaguars drive resulted in a touchdown and a 17-7 margin.

If you’re searching for positives, and there were very few Sunday, maybe Fitzgerald was the most encouraging of the lot.

____

©2025 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.