LAS VEGAS — Usually, you can't wipe the smile off Dave Canales' face.

Sunday, it took a little work to find one, though it eventually broke through.

There was a lot of that going around.

As much as the Panthers tried to make the 36-22 win over the Raiders something resembling normal, it was a special day for a lot of reasons, including the fact their rookie head coach had just won his first NFL game.

In describing it, he kept talking about the process, and that's what he has to do. Canales may be young and handsome and energetic, but he is very much a grinder, and he wants his team to be that way too. But eventually, he cracked.

"Oh, I'm smiling inside," he said near the end of his press conference. "I'm absolutely beat. This has been an amazing, amazing week, but again, just a really heavy week. And with all the factors you know, and just getting back to work and continuing to push to establish our culture and process, I'm thrilled. I'm so joyful."

Quarterback Andy Dalton teased his coach because his face wasn't screaming "joyful" throughout the day. He didn't show it much on the sidelines or at the beginning of his press conference, but the players who have been around him for months could tell how much it meant to get his first win as an NFL head coach.

"I mean, he's obviously excited. It's his first one," Dalton said. "I thought his demeanor the whole game was steady and that's just kind of how he is.

"I tried to get him to smile a couple of times, and he kept his straight face for the most part, but I know without a doubt he's enjoying this. The way this one went, it meant a lot."

For Canales, it was one.

For people who have been around here and seen a lot more, it was still significant.

Long snapper JJ Jansen played in his 246th game with the Panthers Sunday, so he's seen some things. The ups of a 15-1 Super Bowl run, the downs of recent years filled with coaching changes (he's played for five head coaches and three interims). It was Canales' first win, but it was Jansen's 106th, and he said of all the things he'll remember about this game, the way Canales has navigated the week — a "heavy" one because of the benching of quarterback Bryce Young — stood out.

"One of the most important jobs of a leader is to provide calm in the storm," Jansen said. "Dave stayed calm in the eye of the media storm this week. He kept us focused on the preparation day to day and kept us dialed into what we needed to do as a team to win on Sunday."

Jansen said that trickled down through Dalton and the team captains, the veterans on this team, and the leaders because they followed Canales' lead during a week when "piling on our entire organization from the national media" was so prevalent.

"Dave is so positive and so encouraging," Jansen said. "What he also loves to do is celebrate the players and their performances. It felt like he got the greatest amount of joy listing off all the individual accomplishments of our players today, of which there were many.

"I'm sure there's always an element of needing time to let this sink in. Winning in the NFL is hard, and it's a tremendous accomplishment for him to win his first. I hope he will give himself a few minutes to really let it sink in and cherish all the things that he and his family have done to get here, and then, like all of us, we're on to Cincinnati."

That kind of next-thing-next approach has been Canales' hallmark during his short time here. He's positive, but he's businesslike.

"It was just a great picture of Panthers football," Canales said. "Being able to run the ball, stopping the run, playing complementary football on third down, taking advantage of red zone opportunities, the whole thing. The coverage units were just flying around with great energy and chasing, which was just a carryover from a great week. So I've just got to give props to the whole group of just continuing to trust this process.

"This is a great starting point for us to play our kind of football, and I am really excited to get back home, get back to work, and have another great week."

Still, this one was special. There was no denying that.

His family was in town from Los Angeles, and if you thought he was excited rattling off the accomplishments of players, you should have heard the Canales family roll call. He kept looking up under the Section 107 sign to spot his father during the game, sharing this touchstone moment with him.

"I could see exactly where he was," Canales said. "The black vest and the gray goatee were standing out up there."

His mother was on the field pre-game as well, his brothers were there, so many cousins and in-laws and kids.

"It means a lot to be able to get this first win while they were here," Canales said. "So a really special moment."

Again, that was true for a lot of reasons, and it was reflected in those around him, who have picked up on some of his speech patterns and sayings — but mostly his approach.

It was easy to point to Dalton's contributions to the win; he came off the bench and did things that hadn't been done for a decade. But he was quick to spread the credit around the same way Canales did.

"It's not me. It's the process of it," the quarterback said. "It's the process that Dave has been preaching, and the way this game went today, it was exactly how you wanted it to go. They're not all going to go this way, but for us to come out and do what we did, it shows the potential of what we can be. And I think that's the biggest thing. We have to trust the process through the whole thing.

"Dave said that from the very beginning, from the moment he got here, he's been preaching it. We've just got to stay our course. Stay the course, stay the course. And if we do that. Good things are going to happen. And today, a good thing happened."