TAMPA, Fla. — When Adam Thielen was in college at Minnesota State, the Mavericks had a sports psychologist who wanted her team to move past a play as quickly as possible. The thinking being, even knowing that the only way to get through a game, much less a season, is to be able to compartmentalize and move on, it's much easier said than done.

So she put a mini-toilet on the sideline, the size of a toy. And after a bad play, she told the guys to flush it.

"If I had a bad play, I'm gonna go flush it down the drain," Thielen said Sunday, following a 48-14 loss that the Carolina Panthers will want to move past as soon as possible.

It's a practice the veteran receiver has held on to throughout his 12-year career and counting. When he fumbled a ball on the opening drive of a playoff game against the Saints in 2019—a possession New Orleans converted into a score—Thielen employed the tactic again.

"I had to go into that mentality as soon as possible because it's easy to go in the dumps like, man, I'm losing the game for us," Thielen recalled. "I've learned over time, you know, I used to really take it hard on a bad play or get you high on a good play and realize that it doesn't do you any good on the next play.

"You really got to focus on how can I get better. How can I move on as quickly as possible?"

Typically, that means flushing it, at least metaphorically.

It's a mindset that Dave Canales wants his young offense to adopt, employing it on days like Sunday when a game began competitively but quickly snowballed.

"It's just his competitive nature and his ability to go to the next play," Canales said Sunday of Thielen's biggest attribute. "I truly believe that Adam, in his mind, is like, this next one's gonna be a big one, and he continues to have that mentality regardless of what the score is, regardless of what the different looks are.

"He just has that consistency that we love, that we love to point to and say, guys, don't pass judgment, just go to the next play and attack it with everything you have, and that's what he does."

That showed up more than once on Sunday. Albeit, on the first drive, a lot of things were working well. Thielen was just the cherry on top.

On second-and-5 from his 35-yard line, Bryce Young uncorked a rainbow down the right sideline. It was a perfect ball, hard to do any better, and credit deservedly goes to Young for making it look easy. Part of the reason it seemed so easy, though, is because Thielen was the one on the other end of the rope.

With corner Zyon McCollum pulling on his jersey, left arm, and will, Theilen pulled his arm free at the right moment, securing the drop in the bucket and a 31-yard gain. It was a testament to the deep on-air balls Young and Thielen have spent so much time and attention on over the past two years.

"I think it's more so just confidence," explained Thielen. "I have confidence in my abilities, Bryce has confidence, and when we have opportunities, that we're gonna connect most of the time, and I think that's just accumulated reps off of doing things, being on the same page.

"And then obviously, the coordinator and play caller need to be able to trust that, put guys in a position to make plays, and get it done."

The veteran receiver wasn't done, not even for that drive. Four plays later, Thielen cut in front of a defender and cut up the middle of the end zone. Young laid one in front of him for the touchdown to tie the game at 7-all.

"Just a great play call and recognition by Bryce to be able to give kind of alert to be able to hit him on the double move and then get execution all around," Thielen said.

The Panthers offense was then forced into three straight three-and-outs as Carolina struggled to make any headway against the Bucs potent rush, and without running back Chuba Hubbard. In total, it meant a long day for an offense that had made significant and noticeable progress week over week in the past two months. Things weren't helped with the Bucs offense moving easily on the Panthers defense. Tampa Bay finished with 551 yards on 74 plays.

As he is apt to do, though, Thielen flushed it—even if it wasn't directly related to him—and stepped up to make another play. With Young tossing another rainbow, his receiver raced down the seam, splitting double coverage to pull in the 40-yard touchdown pass (around 50-yards on air).

"Just double move," Young said, describing both the first deep throw and the touchdown in the second quarter. "Great job by Adam creating separation there and same thing on the one before the half. Just a great job by him winning on that one versus coverage. I trust him just putting it out there for him to run underneath it."

Thielen pulled in four receptions for 107 yards and the two scores in the first half alone. He finished with five receptions for 110 yards.

"He had some great matchups out there," Canales said when asked why Thielen was so productive. "He took advantage of it, ran the routes the way he was supposed to. Bryce found him and delivered, so I was really pleased about that part of it."

The counterpart to that is, of course, the rest of the day not going how desired.

"It was just near misses, you know, stuff that we got to watch and kind of grow from," Canales said. "And I just credit those guys for continuing to work at it, continue to give them opportunities. That's the only way we're gonna be able to improve that is by continuing to have those ops down the field."

Rookie Jalen Coker pulled in two balls for 35 yards, including a first-down conversion on that opening drive in coverage to put the Panthers in the red zone. Fellow rookie Xavier Legette finished with five catches for 28 yards, two coming after a couple of missed plays. It's an important lesson Canales wants his first-round receiver to learn.

"That's the message, we're going to count on (Legette), you know, and he's got some great ability, and we're going to continue to give him those opportunities when they arise," Canales said.

The Panthers have one game remaining this season, a road matchup with another divisional opponent fighting for a playoff spot, the Atlanta Falcons. It's one final chance to show where the offense has made strides, where things still lack, and most importantly—as their Man of the Year nominee is constantly showing them—how to move past the lows to find the highs.

Said Thielen: "You really just have to go into those into those kind of habits of things that have helped you in the past and go and try to flush it and get back at it."