CHARLOTTE — Ja'Tavion Sanders knew he was going to jump. It was just a matter of where he landed, and whether it was on his head or his feet.

"I kind of had it in my mind the whole time I was running the ball, and I just, I just was praying he didn't flip me," Sanders laughed of his 46-yard hurdle and run in the Carolina Panthers 23-22 win over the New Orleans Saints Sunday.

On second-and-9 from their own 15-yard line, Carolina was looking for (pun intended) a jump start to the second half. Trailing 13-10 to their divisional rivals and having scored a field goal on their final possession of the first half, a chance to double-dip could change the complexion of the game.

So, Sanders made it happen.

"Just trying to give us some momentum going to that third quarter," Sanders said.

After quarterback Bryce Young swung the pass right to his rookie tight end at the line of scrimmage, Sanders turned upfield to open grass that would guarantee a first down. But then fellow rookie pass catcher Xavier Legette laid a block that cleared one defender. It left just one other in front of the Texas product.

He made a quick assessment—he's 6-4 and 243 pounds, Tyrann Mathieu is 5-9 and 190 pounds—and decided to take the risk.

"I know Tyrann wasn't fixing to hit me up top," Sanders admitted, "When you look at DBs in this league, (tight ends) probably got like four to five inches on them, probably 50 to 60 pounds on them, that's not a matchup they going to win, trying to hit us up top.

"They like to take out our knees, take out our ankles, and I was kind of feeling myself after that first one."

The "first one" was a play in the second quarter when Sanders won a 50/50 ball over a safety for 15 yards. The Panthers offense punted on the drive, but as Sanders explained after the game, it established a bit more trust between him and his QB.

That led to the screen on the second play of the third quarter, which featured the hurdle and the truck later in the play for 46 yards.

"It was just a great effort play," coach Dave Canales praised after the win. "He took care of the ball too. You know, in those situations, a lot of times the ball can be in peril, but he kept it high and tight, and that's what we're asking him to do."

Later in the drive, Young found Sanders over the middle for a 21-yard pick up on third-and-4, moving the Panthers in to the red zone. Chuba Hubbard capped the drive with a touchdown to make it 17-13 at the time.

That trust also led to a play that won't show up in Sanders receiving stats but precipitated the game-winner.

The Panthers had first down after a Legette contested catch put the offense in Saints territory. At the 38-yard line, they were still well out of the red zone, but Young—seeing Sanders matched up against a linebacker—took a shot toward his pass catcher on a deep seam.

Sanders was one of Young's reads on the play, but didn't know the ball was coming towards him until he looked back and saw it in the air. At the same time, he realized the Saints linebacker—Demario Davis—had his hands up in the air facing Sanders and not looking towards the ball.

"Just knowing that you can't guard somebody like this," Sanders explained, mimicking Davis's defense posture. "You're trying to come back into the ball, and the refs seeing that, and I know that's something that type of crew is looking for. So, it was just making a smart play, just coming back into the defender trying to get that penalty."

And he did. The subsequent flag put the Panthers at the Saints 16-yard line. One play later, Hubbard ran in the go-ahead touchdown.

"I mean, I ain't catch it, but I did make a play at the same time," Sanders joked. "You could just feel the energy in the stadium change… it definitely changed momentum for us."

Sanders finished with a team-high four receptions for 87 yards, in addition to drawing the DPI call.

But nothing will span more lore than the hurdle.

"I'm just proud of him for the young guys in general, but JT for sure today, just taking advantage of some of those opportunities, one-on-one down the field," Canales said. "So, a great step forward for him."

As the locker room cleared out following the Panthers win Sunday evening, Ja'Tavion Sanders got a first look at his jump.

"I guess I do get little bunnies or something," he laughed.

He's also got something the Panthers need as they continue to build a program: the willingness to jump whenever his team needs a lift.