Sep 7, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette (17) warms up prior to a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Xavier Legette said the Panthers were shocked after their Week 1 loss

Originally posted on Carolina Panthers on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Sep 8, 2025 8:30 AM ET

If you were shocked by the Carolina Panthers' utterly dreadful opening game, you weren't alone. After an offseason of hype (as much hype as a five-win team that could win eight or so this year can have), the Panthers laid a complete egg on offense. It was only outdone by the Miami Dolphins' abhorrent offensive showing across the NFL.

It was so bad that, like the fans, some players were shocked. Xavier Legette, the second-year wide receiver who struggled immensely in the opener, admitted that the players did not expect to get beat so thoroughly.

Per Alex Zietlow, he said, "We just gotta do better. We get in the red zone, we just gotta make the play... We just gotta do better next week. For sure [the team is shocked]. The work we put in, it wasn’t supposed to end like this."

He said he didn't know what exactly they needed to work on, but admitted that they needed to review the tape from the game and reflect internally on how each player can improve in Week 2.

Legette had a few miscues on Sunday after a disappointing rookie season. The wide receiver failed to get his feet in bounds on what was a really good drive for the Panthers up to that point. It was a nice throw from Bryce Young, but Legette drifted out of bounds.

He took responsibility for that one, "Any time the ball is in the air, those plays gotta be made. I just gotta do better at realigning where I'm at on the field, dragging my foot." There was another play where Legette couldn't come down in bounds, and two plays where he tried to go around defenders and kept moving backwards instead of moving forward.

It was not an overall encouraging day for the second-year product or the offense as a whole, and it left them a little surprised with how badly things went. The Panthers just couldn't get anything going, seemingly running into a miscue like Legette's sideline toe-tap failure whenever they got anything resembling momentum going.

This article first appeared on Carolina Panthers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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