CHARLOTTE – For a few minutes on Sunday morning, Shaq Thompson took us to church. As Kirk Franklin blared over the speakers, the veteran linebacker treated fans and teammates to an impromptu worship karaoke set that felt like the offering plate was about to be passed.

Then the music changed, the tempo picked up and the Panthers were back at it with their third padded practice of training camp.

"That's the work I was looking for right there. We've been building to this," Canales said following the morning practice. "A great finish to the practice, high energy, practice for sure."

The finish was a net sum of all Canales has wanted to see out of his team, but it admittedly did not start that way, at least on the offensive side of the ball, which had some rust on the door. Despite some wins in one-on-ones and a couple of runs popped during the first team drill, the defense was clearly taking hold of the day.

"There was a significant difference in how we started the practice from defense to offense. Defense showed up play one ready to rock with the physicality and all that. Offensively, we kind of worked our way through the first group," Canales explained.

Training camp wins come with a grain of salt. One week, one side of the ball typically gets the edge, then the pendulum swings and the other side takes over. Thus has been the case in Charlotte through the first two weeks. But the offense took offense (pardon the homonyms). Following an early run portion, Bryce Young drew the offense together and told them enough.

"After that period, we called the offense up, Bryce called the offense up and let us know like we slacking already," running back Miles Sanders said.

Canales understands that there will be games where one side of the ball starts hotter than the other. It's up to those in the huddle to make sure they respond. It's why he's seeing Sunday's slow start offensively as a teaching moment. And why Sanders is ok with it being Young who challenged his teammates, as opposed to coaches.

"The difference between this year and last year is we don't need the coaches to give us rah-rah speeches," Sanders shared. "If certain players on the team see a downfall, see everybody not competing the way they're supposed to, then the players are the ones in charge to keep that stuff going and bring it back up.

"Player-led teams go to the Super Bowl."

Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu echoed Sanders, saying the offense should get to the point they don't need a "rah-rah" speech to raise their energy level. Once that energy is matched however, Canales sees a team capable of competing.

"What I'm looking for is the energy to match on all phases," Canales said. "Just to try to match it, try to bring the whole thing together. It's the only way that we make us. It's the only way that we become something is if we push each other.

"It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

Legette leaves practice but status unknown

Rookie receiver Xavier Legette left practice about mid-way through. The first-round pass catcher rode shotgun off the field on a cart, sitting up fine. Canales told reporters after practice that Legette had "something in his lower leg."

Legette was taking part in quarterback-receiver drills when he left, but had no noticeable moment or injury during drills.

Canales hesitated to get into details, saying only, "We're just going to evaluate him this afternoon as a precaution and then we'll go from there."

A strong and flashy finish for the offense

The offense did in fact finish strong, as Canales mentioned, particularly in the red zone.

"Bryce was able to come down, make a great drive in that two minute at the end, score a touchdown on the last play," Canales shared. "Not the way we designed it, but he's been magnificent with some of those plays off schedule."

After keeping on a RPO and giving a thought to a sneak, Young rolled left, set his feet and found rookie tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders in the back of the endzone. The 6-4, 243-pound pass catcher used his frame to go over a defender and come down with the touchdown.

"Just a natural football player. Would love to see him just continue to work on the little things, the technique stuff that coach (Pat) McPherson's working with him," Canales offered on Sanders. "But the thing we are seeing from him is just finds a way to get open and he's available as a pass catcher, which is what we're hoping he can do for us."

And for your daily Young to Diontae Johnson fix, another catch in which the receiver peeled off his defender to get open, and Young found him on a scramble.

Learning Bryce

The off-schedule plays have been a point of emphasis for Young and the offense through training camp. It is where the quarterback and Johnson have found the best chemistry, and an aspect of Young's game coaches want to better utilize.

A crucial aspect to a quarterback moving out of the pocket however, is protection holding up. And as is often the case with the offensive line, no one position is more important to protection than the left tackle. So for Ikey, each of these off schedule plays from Young in practice have been welcome work.

"I feel like in pass pro, it's always good kind of knowing when a quarterback is going to drop," Ekwonu began. "Bryce has been really good at that, being real consistent. I feel like that definitely goes hand in hand, especially with the tackle position because there's so much space out there, it's definitely good, kind of just being able to just sense where he's going to be at in the pocket, helps me block my defender a little bit better.

"I feel like I'm definitely improved in that aspect, being able to kind of sense where Bryce is at. And also, when, if the pocket breaks down, being able to kind of sense which way he wants to roll out as well."

The Panthers are going deep…but not yet

Canales' offense likes to heave the ball downfield. While serving as the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay last season, he led quarterback Baker Mayfield to the 12th most big-time throws (as judged by Pro Football Focus). Bryce Young was 20th in the league.

And in 2022, under Canales, Geno Smith had the third highest percentage in the NFL amongst full time starters, of big throws, and second highest total overall.

So, it's been noticeable that the deep ball has made infrequent appearances at Panthers training camp so far. Instead, Bryce Young and company have stuck to more short to intermediate passes. Part of that blame/success lies with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.

"Number one, our scheme defensively is fantastic," Canales laughed. "So, it's really hard, this team, this scheme right here really maximizes the disguise. They do so many good things that make it hard for you to kind of know when you're going to be able to get that shot down the field."

However, he went on to say, the long ball will be making more appearances soon.

"Generally speaking, as far as training camps go, our deep ball production kind of increases the further into camp we get and it really does show up more in games…it's definitely something we just have to bottom line, just improve on and get opportunities on. So, I'd love to see more production down the field."