After a better effort, Panthers defense looking for “consistency”

Panthers head coach Dave Canales challenged them on that point last week, after they were pushed around in the opener. The Bears ran for 291 yards, which is so off-the-charts that it’s hard to fathom. And the Falcons ran for 157 Sunday, but they have Bijan Robinson, and that’s what they do. But holding him to 72 yards and 4.5 yards per carry felt like a win, especially since he was under 4.0 yards per carry in the first half, which is about as long as the game was in question.

Then the Falcons got out of phase and had to pass, and Jaelan Phillips added his second sack of the season (and if he gets one a week, that’ll average out nicely too), as the parts continue to come together.

“Yeah, just keep going, don’t get too high, don’t get too low,” Phillips said of the coming challenge. “I said it before, but just because we won like that doesn’t mean we’ve made it or that we’re the best team ever, you know?

“We have to still be honest with ourselves and still make the improvements where we need to improve and just keep stacking the days.”