CHARLOTTE – When safety Kurt Coleman's knee buckled two weeks ago against New England, he worried he may have played the final snap of his 2017 season.

"I didn't know what part of my knee it was, but I knew it was something, and I knew it wasn't good," Coleman recalled. "But I was ready to fight through whatever the next step was."

Fortunately for Coleman and the Panthers, his next step was rehabilitating a sprained MCL, an injury that typically requires about a month of recovery time.

"It's a blessing to be back on my two feet. I can do a lot of the things I wasn't able to do nine days ago," Coleman said. "I'm really excited about how hard I've been pushing myself with the training staff."

Coleman will miss his second consecutive game against Philadelphia – his former team – and although the Panthers beat the Lions without him, he'll be missed against the high-powered Eagles.

"It's almost like they don't need me," he joked. "I'm really encouraged by what I've seen from Colin Jones, Jairus Byrd and Mike Adams, who has been a commander back there. With me not being out there, (Mike) really took control and got everybody aligned.

"Every day I have to continue to get better. But I am not worried about the guys that are playing right now. I'm going to continue to help them in whatever way, shape or form I can. There is no worry in my blood that they can't go out there and perform just as well as I do."