FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Panthers rookie head coach Dave Canales doesn't second-guess his decision to park most of his starters Thursday night, but he did admit they might need to adjust plans for next week based on what happened during the 17-3 loss to the Patriots.

The Panthers did not play quarterback Bryce Young or most of the starting offense (only second-year wideout Jonathan Mingo was active), and he didn't necessarily say whether that would change next week against the Jets.

But finishing the game with five healthy offensive linemen was enough to make him consider some things for the future.

"So that's some of the conversations we're gonna have to have as far as who plays this week," Canales said.

The attrition on the offensive line was the most acute problem.

With the starting five on the bench and Yosh Nijman remaining on physically unable to perform, they knew they'd be short. But second-year guard Nash Jensen stayed home, and for good reason.

"Nash and his wife were having a child, so he stayed back," Canales explained. "He stayed home to do that, and I thought that was really important for him to be there to be with his wife, just a special moment that only comes around every once in a while. So for him to be able to do that was great, and again, just really tip of the cap for the guys that were able to kind of stand in."

Going into a game with seven active offensive linemen is a strain, and it became a near-crisis when right tackle Badara Traore left with a knee injury and didn't return, and then veteran Cade Mays wasn't able to finish. Canales said Mays had a shoulder issue, and he left the locker room with his right arm in a sling.

That forced undrafted rookie Andrew Raym to finish the game at center. Rookie Jeremiah Crawfordplayed right tackle in the second half, and Canales was impressed, saying Raym "did a really good job down the end right there."

With that said, they were stretched thin, and Brady Christensen bore the brunt of it.

Christensen started 17 games in 2022, and the opener last year before he was lost for the season to a torn biceps. In a game like this, he might have played some, but never a full game.

But Christensen, who is cross-training at basically every position on the line this year (taking snaps at center, guard, and tackle), said it's the kind of thing you have to be ready to do.

"You always go to every game, mentally prepared to play however long is needed," he said. "I mean, there's no overtime in the preseason, so I was expecting 60 minutes.

"That's what I'm doing right now, and I enjoy it. I enjoy being versatile and really just working my craft everywhere. You know, if I'm playing right guard, working on a craft at right guard. Right tackle, working on my craft there."

But with such a mixed bag of players on the field, the inability to get points on the board until late was obvious. Harrison Mevis's fourth-quarter field goal prevented the shutout on a night not conducive to points.

Christensen remained focused on who was there and the problems they incurred. The Panthers had nine penalties for 61 yards.

"We just need to communicate better, and obviously, the pre-snap penalties, we got to clean that up," Christensen said. "Every time we weren't being ourselves, we were driving it all right. So it's just those penalties that got us behind the sticks that really killed us."

Canales mentioned those as well in his post-game interview, after his first game as an NFL head coach. And while the result was not what he was hoping for, he was focused on particular parts of the game, such as undrafted rookie Jack Plummer getting the start at quarterback, and playing into the fourth quarter.

"Tonight was about our first time guys, the rookies guys who haven't had a chance to play in the NFL," he said. "And I think what they found tonight is just football, and they ran, they played hard. We had some great tackling and some great hitting. We desperately need that this time of year to go full live all the way to the ground. And I'll take a look at the film and kind of see what it was. But, I didn't see a lot of missed tackles. I saw some really physical play from the defensive side. Offensively, they played hard, played physical, but the execution just wasn't there.

"For me, it was just a great opportunity to be able to talk to the coaches, talk to the officials, kind of have those conversations. We had a chance to replay one (winning his first replay challenge), which George Li upstairs helping me with. That was great. And so it was just great reps for me to just get the flow of how the communication happens and being able to work all through that."

Canales acknowledged that next week's joint practice against the Jets would be a "fantastic opportunity" for his regulars to get more work, and that he'd have to see where they stood on numbers because of the injuries to see who might play in the game next Saturday night.