CHARLOTTE — All week, as the Panthers' defense watched tape, preparing for their home opener and first matchup against a divisional opponent, there was one constant that kept presenting itself.

When Michael Penix Jr. needed to get rid of the ball, he preferred throwing to the flat. They were typically late throws, and "reckless" according to nickel corner Chau Smith-Wade. In other words, there were opportunities to be had.

"(The coaches) knew certain situations where we could potentially get reckless throws out of certain looks," Smith-Wade explained, following the Panthers' shutout 30-0 win over the Falcons. "That was something that we saw going into this week, watching film."

A rough approximation shows Penix swung to the flats eight times against the Panthers. One of them was an explosive, a 25-yard catch and run from Bijan Robinson down the sideline. Sans that play, the other seven accumulated a total of six yards. One resulted in a tackle for loss, and another was a game-changing play: a pick-six from Smith-Wade.

"That happened to be one of those situations, and you know I got to give my kudos to (the coaches) because they call the right play at the right time, and I just happened to take advantage," Smith-Wade praised.

On the play, Penix, looking for an outlet, checked to Robinson, who was waiting in the flat to the left. Smith-Wade, using the tape study, was there waiting. Penix side-armed the throw, and the Panthers' nickel corner jumped the pass perfectly, with nothing but 11 yards of green grass between him and the end zone.

"We just knew that he would make some reckless throws," continued Smith-Wade, "And we knew who he was looking for, so that happened to be one of those situations.

"I just feel like you can never go to the flats late, and I think that's what it was. He went to the flats late, he started to the field—or he started to the boundary—and then worked his way to the field."

The defensive score made it 17-0. But the Panthers, who came back to make it close last week against the Cardinals, know a game can turn on a dime. So even though they built an early lead, the unit never let up the rest of the game.

"I feel like last week we finished well, but we didn't start fast enough, so that was kind of the motto all week," said corner Mike Jackson. "For me, really, early in the game I don't look at the scoreboard because there's so much football left to be played. It really don't matter, so it's kind of like, no matter we up, down, or it's our game, we just go out there with the same mentality."

This was the first time the Panthers notched a shutout since Nov. 22, 2020, against the Lions and their largest margin of victory since a 49-15 win over the Cardinals in the 2015 NFC Conference Championship game (January 24, 2016).

"It was times in the game where they weren't moving the ball," said Jackson. "We still got to stop them. They don't score, they don't win, so that's kind of how it goes."

Added Dave Canales, "I thought the defense played an unbelievable game. The run game plan, the execution, the communication, all that stuff that we've been really just harping on, you know, is where we have to continue to grow, there were still a couple of things, you know, that that we need to clean up, from a defensive standpoint, but to take advantage of, of some of those opportunities with Chau Smith-Wade with the touchdown, Mike Jack with the interception and that, and then that punch out at the end, you know, it's just a form of habits, you know, it's what we're trying to get done in practice is the more attempts we get on the ball, eventually you can get one out there so I was really proud of the group."

But after the game, guys still walked off the field stoic. Happy, but not in joyful disbelief. This was not a surprise to anyone who was part of the preparations heading into the week, promised Smith-Wade.

"The standard, our mindset, we set a standard going into this week, this practice, so I fully think it was the standard that we set, and we just decided to band together and stay with that standard," he said.

The standard showed itself in better communication, with guys not out of position or missing assignments, and more importantly, better tackling, particularly against the king of missed tackles, Bijan Robinson (13 rushes for 72 yards).

"We were just communicating, everybody was always on the same page," shared safety Nick Scott. "That's so crucial on defense when guys are talking during the snap and know exactly what's going on and what they might be getting. It makes it easier to react and make plays, and we were making plays all over the field today because we were trusting each other. We knew what the guy beside us or behind us was doing, so the guys could play fast.

"And we tackled extremely well, something that we wanted to improve on, and we did that. Bijan, man, he's a hell of a player, and we were getting him on the ground, not because it was easy, just because guys were strained and there were guys running to the ball and making sure that we were rallying and tackling and stuff like that.

The Panthers are coming off a season in which their defense struggled to say the least, particularly on the ground. While it is still very early on in the season, Sunday's performance against the Falcons—holding them to 5-of-13 on third downs, forcing three turnovers, and never letting them cross the Panthers' 30-yard line—showed tape of what this defense can do with a stout front and ball-seeking secondary.

Said Scott, "We were flying around, guys were hungry, guys wanted to make our mark as this defense, and it showed up."