Although the Bombers' goalkicking was wayward in the first three quarters, they remained a chance of pinching a win after trailing by 22 points at the last change.
But Carlton booted the first six goals of the quarter, finishing with 10 goals to one to run out 76-point victors at the MCG.
"The way we played our football was a direct opposite to last week. There was fabulous intensity last week, we rolled the ball on and played with really good intent and we were really decisive," Knights said.
"Tonight, there was a lot of stop-start, a lot of second-guessing and not taking the first option. It's really frustrating... and we'll look to rectify that really quickly."
The Essendon coach said his side's struggles in front of goal cost it any chance of leading the match at three-quarter time but denied that it was a decisive factor.
"I would have thought poor goalkicking up to three-quarter time was an issue. After three-quarter time that wasn't an issue [with] the domination Carlton had in the last quarter," he said.
"Carlton… took their opportunities in front of goal. Garlett and Waite might have kicked 9.3 between them. Our keys might have kicked 2.8, 2.9 between them. There's a difference there but it's not the reason we lost the game.
"I felt at three-quarter time, we were still in the game, I really did. I felt our players were in the game and we just had to straighten up a bit and kick some six-pointers and it might have got us going.
"But Carlton kicked the first two goals really quickly... and from that point on, it was just a tidal wave. They smashed us."
Knights expressed a measure of irritation at David Hille's report for making high contact with Mitch Robinson, despite replays showing that contact between the pair was minimal.
"The reality is he should have tackled and that's it in a nutshell. He should have tackled Mitch Robinson. It was clumsy," he said.
Knights also dismissed an apparent goal umpiring error in the third quarter, where Jay Neagle's shot at goal was deemed a behind, as "part of the game".
