CHARLOTTE — The Panthers defense, already without some of the pillars around which they had built, was forced to finish Sunday's game without two starters. Both inside linebackers, Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell, exited the 34-24 loss against the Bengals on the same drive.

"I was asking around after the game like what was wrong with him," cornerback Jaycee Horn said of Thompson. "I probably circle back with him tonight and make sure he good. But I definitely, you know, hate to see him going down.

"Just me being in that position so many times and, you know, knowing what he went through last year, how he fought to come back and knowing his goals for this year also, it was, it was tough when I seen him go down, but hopefully he'll be all right."

The Panthers don't know yet if Thompson, who left with an ankle injury on the last play of the third quarter, will "be all right," and won't know more until Monday.

"We're evaluating Shaq right now. There's something in his lower leg," Canales shared after the loss. "It's really, we don't know until we get the MRI and get that information, but it was enough that he couldn't finish."

After Jewell exited five plays later with groin and a hamstring injuries, the Panthers defense played their final two-and-a-half drives with a front seven that was missing—at that point—Thompson, Jewell, Derrick Brown (out for the season), and Shy Tuttle (out with a foot injury).

"Somebody goes down, that don't mean you throwing in a towel," Horn preached. "Like I always been saying, since OTAs, it's a standard. It's a standard no matter who in there. And like I said, we paid to play football, so somebody go down, that should make you want to go harder for your brother."

When Thompson, and subsequently Jewell, left on the same drive, rookie Trevin Wallace and second-year linebacker Claudin Cherelus were thrown right into action. Wallace called plays, as he did during OTAs, and teammates joked afterward his South Georgia accent still slipped through at times, but his ability to make the defensive calls has gotten much better.

"He did a great job just getting things organized and communicated," Canales said of Wallace. "And so really, just for me again, it's like the next guy up and the opportunity that provides for us to evaluate our players and to put them out there to see what we have."

Added DeShawn Williams: "He did good. He's an athletic linebacker. He didn't show like he was a rookie today, so I know he has a bright future. He got thrown into the fire kind of quick and things like that.

"But him, Cherelus, they picked up the slack when Josey and Shaq went down. But that's the league, though."

With or without the starting inside linebackers, though, the Panthers defense readily admitted they still gave up too much in the first half, digging themselves a hole that the offense tried to help them climb out of, but it was too little too late. The plays and scheme were there, but as guys explained ad nauseam in the postgame locker room, it was the execution that was lacking as the Bengals scored touchdowns on four straight drives, including the first one of the second half.

"It wasn't so much what they did; it was just what we weren't doing. We was just, it'd be like one guy or two wasn't in a gap or, or we didn't have discipline," Williams said. "I think we watch this film; I think we will all agree like it's on us, you know if we eliminate some of the stuff that we know that we can do and half of it just fundamentals and we do that, it'd be a different outcome on defense."

Added Cherelus: "Just throughout the game, there was a little bleeding. The Bengals took advantage of arm tackles and, bigger gaps and cutbacks. They were testing you a little bit. So, really just testing your eyes and making sure you're playing true to your keys."

The Bengals only had 141 rushing yards, averaging 4.5 per rush. There were six big plays on the ground in the second half, though, as Cincinnati employed a jumbo package multiple times to lean on the Panthers defense. It's a double-edged sword, Wallace said, as the formation tells you exactly where the ball is going, but the extra weight and girth dares you to stop the play.

"You know where the ball is going," Wallace explained. "So, you know, ok, it's a big boy over to your left, the ball going there. Just have it all ready; it's the next step in your head. Ok, this is where the ball going. Like just having the play already ready to go. So know, ok, the ball going over here so we just got to stop it."

Stopping it proved easier said than done, as the Panthers found themselves slipping.

"We weren't wrapping up, like fundamentally. We'd miss a tackle or two and that's not us. That's not the brand of all that we show," Williams said. "I think we got to hone in on our fundamentals because, at the end of the day, this game is all about fundamentals, blocking, tackling, and scoring. So, we do those things, we good."

Missed tackles plagued Ejiro Evero's unit in the first half, as Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and others played pinball off bodies downfield, including Chase's 63-yard touchdown. It led to the explosive plays that Horn said they'd made a goal to avoid, drawing blood quickly and early.

"We came in with the goal of limiting their explosive plays. And they hit us on a few early in the first half," Horn admitted, "but I feel like we circled back in the second half and played a little better, but there's a small margin of error in this league."

To his point, the Bengals had six passes of 10-plus yards in the first half, including the touchdown to Chase that left defenders littered across the grass at Bank of America Stadium. Two plays that didn't go into the stat sheet as an explosive, or even a play at all, but gave up chunk yards regardless, were back-to-back defensive pass interference calls, one on Mike Jackson and the next on Horn. The first occurred at the 4-yard line, the second in the end zone, and kept a drive moving, resulting in the first double-dip scoring opportunity for the Bengals.

Explained Horn or the call, "It's tough, you know, Tee Higgins a big body. I feel like we were both fighting. He came off the ball. He came off the ball, had both hands in my chest, pushing me the whole rep, and he got me for the grab. But I mean, it is what it is; that's the life of a corner."

The Panthers now await word on both of their starting linebackers. If negative news comes back, Wallace will begin preparations for the week with the message Thompson has preached all offseason ringing in his head.

"Shaq always tells me, hey, if I go down, you up," Wallace shared. "(Thompson) was watching it in (the training room), he was telling me, he was like, you looked good out there like you were comfortable and all that.

"He's like, this is what you're here for. This is why you're here. This is why the team got you. Now it's for you to take the next step and show who you are."