Wins and losses in preseason play don’t matter, at least for the bottomline. But Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule doesn’t see it that way.
Following his team’s 21-18 exhibition loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Rhule let reporters know that he wasn’t particularly giddy about the final result. The defeat came, in no small part, to the series of mental mistakes that resulted in numerous flags against Carolina.
“We were upset at halftime about the amount of false starts in the first half and penalties. We had seven penalties in the first half,” said Rhule, who watched his Panthers finish with a total of 10 infractions on the day.
“So you can make excuses. I don’t make excuses and I don’t let others make them for me. We jumped offsides. That was really the message of the day, ‘Hey, we beat ourselves.'”
Carolina led by as many as 12 and carried an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter. Indianapolis, sparked by a scrambling clinic from quarterback Sam Ehlinger, erased the deficit, scoring 11 points in the game’s final eight minutes. A 30-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro with seven seconds remaining gave the Colts a three-point lead they took for good.
“We just didn’t win. I don’t care if it’s a preseason game, I don’t care if it’s a scrimmage,” Rhule later added. “We wanna win everything that we do.”
He and the Panthers will have another chance to win on Saturday when they host the Baltimore Ravens at Bank of America Stadium for their second preseason contest.
