CHARLOTTE — Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard's been around here long enough that he can offer perspective on people growing through adversity.

And he's also self-aware enough to apply it to himself.

Hubbard acknowledged that last week's overtime fumble against the Buccaneers is an obvious push for him as he goes through the rest of the season.

"Yeah, definitely use it as motivation," Hubbard said. "But at the end of the day, I've come a long way, and now I know what it takes to play great football. And obviously, that was a big mistake on my end, but I don't just lose all the work I put in because of that one mistake. So just fall back on my fundamentals, get back to work, and just keep working hard."

Hubbard earned his recent contract extension the hard way, putting in all his hours while seeing other running backs come and go. Throughout that time, he maintained the same kind of work ethic. But he admitted that a play like last week's would have hit him differently at other points in his career.

"Definitely, you could say that," Hubbard said. "But I think the more adversity and the different things you handle throughout your career and how you handle those things in those moments set you up. No one's perfect, and things aren't going to always go your way. And like I said, when you build up a basis for yourself, you fall back on that when hard times come.

"So for me, just fall back to my roots, which is hard work, keep my head down, and keep doing what I always do. I know I'll be all right to make right of it."

Bryce Young, on a sliding scale

With quarterback Bryce Young scrambling for a touchdown last week — and generally showing more of a willingness to run, the old conversation about his unconventional approach to sliding has come up again.

And Young's the first to admit it's not textbook.

"We'll see," he said with a laugh when asked about learning to slide. "I feel like I've had some OK attempts. I've had some, not-great attempts. So, hopefully, one day, I just get it right magically."

Hubbard joked about it as well but took an "all's well that ends well" approach to his quarterback's style.

"Yeah, he's definitely got to work on his slide, but he's been making people miss," Hubbard said. "He hasn't had to slide yet like that. So he'll get it. He'll be all right.

"I mean, I'm not trying to hate on my dog's slide. It's just a work in progress. He'll be all right, though. Like I said, he's making people miss and stuff. So he fell in the end zone. He didn't need to slide."

Panthers head coach Dave Canales couldn't help but grin either when asked about it, but he also has emphasized to Young that protecting himself is the important part, regardless of what it looks like.

"Well, he's got his ways of getting it done," Canales said. "And I think you've seen him kind of move around and find ways to avoid those contacts and those big hits and that's just been his style. He doesn't have a lot of baseball in his background, you know.

"But that is definitely something that we talk about, and just making sure that you have a plan to protect the quarterback. And then I try to remind him you're the quarterback. So I try to keep it light, but at the same time, it's serious. And when you're heading into the end zone, when you're heading out of bounds, when you're in the middle of the field, having a plan for when those defenders are coming at you."

Sam Franklin apologizes for post-game outburst

Special teams captain Sam Franklin Jr. apologized for his post-game outburst Sunday, in which he was shouting at Bucs players coming through the tunnel following the overtime loss.

"There's really nothing to talk about after the game, we're all professional athletes, that kind of stuff isn't accepted in the NFL," Franklin said. "Regardless of what happened on the field, we got to keep those things in between the lines that can't get out into the locker room or afterward. So I'd just like to apologize to the organization, my teammates, and the owners around the league because that's not how we, that's not how we want to view ourselves as professional athletes.

"So, you know, that's all I have to say about that situation. It's a learning experience for me, something that I'm going to get better and, moving forward, doing better about. Like I said, this is something that, that has to be controlled. It's something that doesn't need to be in the NFL."

Franklin has always played with a certain edge, and instigating opponents has long been part of his game. But that was clearly excessive, and he also had an unnecessary roughness penalty just before halftime that forced the Panthers to start the second half by kicking off from their own 20.

Asked how he kept that in balance, Franklin replied: "You've just got to put your emotions to the side. Like I said, you can be passionate but (that kind of) emotion is something that we don't need in this game, win or lose. Sportsmanship is something that everybody in the NFL should have. And that wasn't sportsmanlike, and that's just what it comes down to. You've got to be a sport even when you lose, even when things happen to you, you've got to respect this game."

Still looking for a ruling on Adam Thielen non-TD

When asked to follow up on last week's ruled non-touchdown by Adam Thielen, Canales said they expressed that they believed he had control of the ball. The officials disagreed, saying initially that he didn't and then acknowledging that they didn't have a view that showed clear evidence to overturn it — in part because there were fewer camera angles available.

"We just sent in just the ruling; we wanted clarification," Canales said. "I haven't seen the response yet, but just a clarification of, was it a catch, no catch, or was it inbounds out of bounds? That was in question on the original incomplete call because then that can kind of direct a little bit of the feedback, you know. We saw control and just kind of reiterated the fact that the ball can move as long as you don't lose control. But the camera angles were inconclusive.

"So again, like we talked about before, I think if they call it a touchdown, they would have stayed with it. They called it incomplete. They're going to stay with it based on the information."

Injury updates on Jalen Coker, Ja'Tavion Sanders

Canales said he was encouraged by what he saw from rookie wideout Jalen Coker and tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders in practice as they try to get back this week.

Coker missed the last two games with a quadriceps strain but was a full participant in practice Wednesday.

"Just pushing the workload, pushing it early in the week and then getting him back out there, you know, we had a great individual period, he ran his routes full speed, he looked great. He's got a different look on his face, like I can tell he feels confident.

"He came off of the bye week with some pretty fresh legs and had the injury happen there in practice a couple of weeks ago, but he's got himself back to a good place, and I can just tell by his demeanor that he's feeling really good."

Sanders was in a red non-contact jersey in practice and was listed as a limited participant, and Canales said Thursday was an important day for him.

"We are still taking him through a process to make sure we're doing the right thing, the smart thing, but he moved around great today," Canales said. "It was a non-contact football day today, but he moved around great. And then tomorrow, we'll be able to play a little bit more football and see where he's at."