CHARLOTTE— The Carolina Panthers (3-11) play their final home game of the season on Sunday. It's a chance to show the hometown crowd how far the club has come in the first year under Dave Canales, what Bryce Young has learned in his second season, and what pieces are in place for the future.

Oh yeah, and they'll play the Arizona Cardinals (7-7). Leaving the Charlotte crowd with a final good impression in 2024 and defeating Kyler Murray and the Cards are part and parcel with each other though. With that in mind, here are five things to watch in Sunday's matchup.

Containing Kyler

Trying to bottle up Kyler Murray is easier said than done. He not only has 455 yards rushing on 64 carries (including four touchdowns on the ground), but as Mike Jackson reminded us this week, Murray has elusiveness and the baseball background to create off platform throws that mean a play is never truly over.

"He's almost better out of pocket than he is in the pocket," Jackson said Thursday. "Like you can tell he played baseball because he got all the weird throw arm angles and the fact that he can scramble, so it's just like you have to be in tune the whole down, you can't relax."

According to Next Gen Stats, Murray has utilized play action on 29.7% of his dropbacks this season, the 5th-highest rate in the NFL, completing 73.6% of his passes when doing so (6th-highest).

The Panthers defense has allowed a 65.8% completion percentage on play action passes this season, just below the league average of 67.6%, but have also allowed the 2nd-fewest yards per attempt on such passes (7.1).

Part of the effort to rush the passer will lie in Jadeveon Clowney's status. The outside linebacker is listed as questionable after not practicing on Wednesday and being limited on Thursday. Clowney was able to be a full participant on Friday.

Stopping Conner

As if containing Kyler wasn't enough, the Panthers defense also has to deal with stopping James Conner. The veteran back is in the Top 10 in rushing, with 973 yards. He also has five touchdowns on the ground and another through the air.

Linebacker Josey Jewell has faced Conner before. And Conner, now in his eighth season, seems to only be getting better with age.

"He's a consistent runner. Every single time you see him out there, he's just good. I don't know how else to describe it honestly," Jewell laughed. "Physical, still got his legs, still can run well, can be active in the pass game too."

Jewell will be in charge of a lot with the defense this week, as the rest of his linebacker corps is in flux. With both Trevin Wallace and Claudin Cherelus going on injured reserve this week, Jewell will play alongside a rotation of Jon Rhattigan and Jacoby Windmon.

"We're banking on and hoping that they'll be able to go in there and we'll be able to play football," Canales said Friday of the duo.

Thanks to the advent of two rookie defensive backs this season, the Panthers also have the ability to play more nickel to supplement the linebacker decencies this week. Rookie nickel Chau Smith-Wade began preparing of the possibility at the beginning of the week.

"I think probably a lot more focus on the the runs, I mean if we have an ILB go down, we'll probably have to be in a box," Smith-Wade said Wednesday, as to what his focus would be this week. "So a lot more run fits, focusing on that and I do think conditioning does take a place in that.

"You got to be conditioned to play over 60 plays, so, I think we would have to make an emphasis on our conditioning and just honing in on run fits a little more."

Budda vs. Chuba

The Panthers offensive coaching staff is extremely familiar with Budda Baker. They coached against him for two games a year for six years. It's why Dave Canales knows not only what Baker can do on a field, but how important he is to the whole defense.

"He's really at the heart and soul, the heartbeat of what they do, and everybody responds to him," Canales said Friday.

Baker is currently second in the league with 142 tackles, part and parcel of what Canales described as "just relentless attitude, attack, toughness."

Doing all this from the safety position doesn't just make Baker a heat-seeking missile though. He's a chess piece, one which the Panthers will have to be cognizant and aware of at every turn on Sunday.

"Also, he's really smart," Canales continued. "He's an intelligent player. It's not a guy that's just running around you know randomly. He's got a plan and purpose for what he's doing and so mix all those things in it's what's so impressive about this guy."

Added Bryce Young, "He just that that knack for being around the ball, the role that he plays in, it's something that you see super often across the league, but he plays it so well.

"I mean just being able to be around the ball, makes so many instinctual plays, plays smart, plays fast. So for us that's something that we have to take, we have to account for him, in the game, in the pass game, make sure we're accounting for him…that's going to be a unique challenge for us."

The challenge gets more interesting with the wide receiver corps the Panthers will have to face the Cardinals and Baker. Canales confirmed Friday that rookie Xavier Legette will not play Sunday. David Moore remains in concussion protocol, although he did practice on Friday and is listed as questionable. That means Adam Thielen and Jalen Coker will be joined by Deven Thompkins and Dan Chisena.

The best way to combat a hampered passing attack? The run game. Baker can make an impact there too, but the Cardinals as a whole are in the middle of the league, allowing an average of 121.4 yards per game on the ground. Chuba Hubbard was held to his second lowest output of the season against the Cowboys, in total yards (32) and carries (10). With the offense depending on him against the Cardinals, Hubbard is prepared for both of those numbers to bounce up again.

"The live reps he's gotten throughout the season, he's done a great job of becoming more dynamic in a bunch of different schemes, so workload-wise, we don't hesitate," offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said this week of Hubbard's workload.

Can McBride be stymied?

The Cardinals leading receiver is tight end Trey McBride. When that's the case, there are extra stresses that can be put on a defense. It'll require not only discipline from the second level of the front seven, but the corners as well, who will have to help at times.

"He lined up in the middle of the field, so like he can kind of go either way," Jackson explained. "He can stay to the left or go across the field. So from that aspect it's really, you just got to know where he at, lock in a little bit more on film and like how they like to use him, that type thing."

Jaycee Horn, who is fourth on the team with 64 tackles, added, "It just adds another strong dynamic to their offense, another weapon, and I think, I mean, McBride a good player, run good routes, he's a strong physical blocker, got good speed, so just another weapon they got and another guy we got to try to eliminate."

Baby, it's cold outside

Murray was supremely confident this week when first asked about playing in the cold weather.

"I've played in cold weather before," Murray quickly responded, before asking exactly how cold it would be in Charlotte this weekend.

When told it'd be around 35 degrees (the forecast currently predicts 39 degrees at kickoff), Murray couldn't help the expletive that flew out of his mouth in response.

The quarterback is a Texas native, and played his college football in Texas and Oklahoma. He was drafted to Arizona—where temperatures are currently in the mid-70's—and plays in a stadium with a roof that can be closed. Sunday will be the coldest game he's played in all season (the previous was in Seattle on Nov. 24, where the temperatures reached a low of 47 degrees during game time.)

Whether or not that will play in the Panthers favor remains to be seen. But Dave Canales knows he loves this type of game day.

"I have good feelings about December football because of just what it has meant, and it's the finish mode," Canales said Friday. "It's all the guys coming together, feels like football, you know, and when it gets cold, when it gets tougher, all those things kind of add and you can just think of years and years of special games played, so you know it's a good challenge in sorts, but it does, I think it does something to the players where they can feel that you know it's finish time."