CHARLOTTE — Dave Canales called it a "great fall afternoon" and he wasn't wrong. The perfect weather set up a perfect Friday for the Panthers as they wrapped up their week of practice in preparation for the Atlanta Falcons. It was a week of rehab and resetting, coming off a loss to the Chicago Bears that saw five starters leave with injury.

Carolina will get some of those starters back this week and will look to play through without others. The divisional test against the 3-2 Falcons will be the Panthers first late afternoon kick of the season, something rookie receiver Xavier Legette said he likes.

"I like the later games. I get to relax my mind a little bit," Legette told reporters this week. "I watch a little bit of the earlier games, kind of watch some of the stuff I did during the week, just to visualize myself making plays."

While Legette visualizes himself making plays against the Falcons, we'll join him and look ahead to other parts of the game. Here are five things to watch as the Panthers take on the Falcons.

Say hello to your new offensive line

The Panthers offensive line had been a bright spot through the first few weeks of the season, giving up few pressures and creating wide open lanes for Chuba Hubbard. Chicago leveled a hit though, as center Austin Corbett (biceps) and tackle Taylor Moton (elbow) both left the game. Corbett will now have season ending surgery, while Moton remains week-to-week, but is out for Sunday.

That means Brady Christensen and Yosh Nijman, come on down! This is your time to shine. Both took over for their respective counterparts to finish the Bears game. Nijman was signed as a free agent this spring to be the backup tackle. Christensen has played a little bit of everything since joining the Panthers in 2021 and began training as the backup center this offseason. That means he spent a huge portion of the calendar snapping to Andy Dalton.

"Brady is a good football player," Dalton declared this week, "and he's moved and he's played a bunch of different spots on the line and for now him to get this opportunity at center, it's a guy that has played a ton of football and understands the game well, and now he's just, he's going to be the one that's going to be making calls and doing things.

"So, I think it fits him well. He's putting a ton of work at it and obviously hard losing Corbs out there, but I think we couldn't have a better guy to step into that role."

Maybe, possibly say hello to your new defensive front

While the changes on the offensive line are set for this week, the different personnel groupings on defense are still in question. Pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney did not practice all week after leaving the Week 5 game against the Bears with a shoulder injury. His official status against the Falcons is doubtful and he will be a game day decision, according to Canales. That leaves a few options on the active roster to take on the pass-rushing duties, should Clowney officially be held out Sunday.

The Panthers have brought in a few new faces recently; well, one new face and one familiar: Shaq Lawson and Marquis Haynes Sr., respectively. Both are currently on the practice squad, but Canales said on Friday that activating one or both is "a possibility."

The primary question with the duo, Canales admitted, is whether or not they are in game shape after being in Charlotte for less than a week. The actual football acumen though is not a concern, given their breadth of experience. Lawson, a former first-rounder, has played in 109 games over his career, with 207 tackles and 26 sacks. Haynes has 99 tackles and 14 sacks in his 71 games, all with the Panthers.

"Just veteran players, know how to use their hands," Canales said of the two. "They got a plan for playing the run game, for playing the pass game, you know, nice toolboxes in the pass rush and those things.

"So again, it's just a matter of getting eyes on them and feeling comfortable about them being ready to play football."

How to stop Bijan

Dave Canales was able to run through a whole list on Friday of challenges the Falcons offense presents. And while quarterback Kirk Cousins understandably has received a lot of attention through the first five weeks for his play, the Atlanta offense still stops and starts with one man: Bijan Robinson.

So far this season, Robinson has 67 rushes for 285 yards (4.3 yards per carry) with a rushing touchdown, as well as 18 receptions for 151 yards (8.4 yards per catch). The Falcons' primary goal is to get the ball in Robinson's hands and then let him take it from there. Of his 18 receptions, 13 came behind the line of scrimmage. All but one of those went for positive yardage.

According to Next Gen Stats, Robinson has recorded 206 yards after the catch on targets under 10 air yards this season, the 2nd-most in the NFL. He has also forced 22 missed tackles across all touches this season, tied for the 6th-most in the NFL.

Panthers' rookie running back Jonathon Brooks was teammates with Robinson at Texas and perhaps knows him better than anyone else in the Carolina locker room. It's why linebacker Trevin Wallace joked he was going to pick Brooks' brain for tips this week. As for what Brooks had to say about his fellow Longhorn?

"I think it's just the level of calmness that he plays with," Brooks said. "You can't get in his head because he doesn't let it get to him. He just plays so, like, it seems like he's like nonchalant with it. He just does it and he doesn't really celebrate much.

"Just his ability to make people miss, like, it's just, it's natural. He's just everything about him is just natural."

Beyond Bijan

While Robinson is a huge bulk of Atlanta's offense, there are pieces across the field for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. In total, the Falcons have five receivers with 100-plus yards through five weeks, and four with touchdowns.

"We know they had weapons, battling with them the last couple of years," corner Jaycee Horn said this week. "For me, you know, I know the type of receivers they got and they added (Darnell) Mooney.

"But now adding Kirk (Cousins), he able to give him the ball. So, that brings a whole different dynamic to it."

One of those weapons is KhaDarel Hodge, who caught the game winner in overtime in Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While that Thursday night game was the first time Hodge really burst onto the scene, Horn said you've got to keep an eye on No. 12.

"He just do it all guy," Horn said of Hodge. "Special teams, whether it's in the run game, blocking and then obviously he can step up and made a big play as he showed in the (Bucs) game in overtime.

"This league filled with great players, even if the media don't talk about them or know about them. As players, you know, you got to have all the antenna's up whenever you see a receiver in the game because you know, they're in the league, they doing something, right?"

Return of Ian Thomas

The Panthers offense could very well see the return of tight end Ian Thomas this week. He practiced for the second week in a row, including a Wednesday practice as a full participant (he was limited on Thursday and Friday). After weeks on injured reserve, this could be Thomas' first game action of the season.

If Thomas, who is considered questionable, does return on Sunday, it will be just in time, as Tommy Tremble is out, still in concussion protocol. Thomas has made his bread and butter by being a dominating blocking tight end. His presence on the field could open up rookie Ja'Tavion Sanders up for more pass-catching opportunities and helping open up the run game options more for Chuba Hubbard.

"He's a big powerful man," Canales said Friday of Thomas. "So, in the run game, you can match him up in different ways. And then he's just, as a tight end in general, he just gives us versatility with what we can do with him, running some routes and doing those things and those are all the things we counted on him coming in and hopefully at some point we get him going, we can make that come to life."