CHARLOTTE — Being a .500 football team is not a goal.

But for the Carolina Panthers, getting to .500 the way they did still represents a significant step in the development of a still-young team, and a step in the direction Dave Canales is trying to take this bunch.

With a 30-27 win over the Cowboys Sunday at Bank of America Stadium, the Panthers got to 3-3 on the season. The fact that they did it with a game-winning drive by Bryce Young and a walk-off field goal by rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald (one of 12 rookies on the roster) just underscored what Canales is seeing as the makings of a personality.

"So proud of this group, that just continues to fight and scratch and claw and just get it done," he began, as he bounced into the team meeting room for his post-game press conference. "And at the end of the day, it's what do you do with the last possession. The defense came through for us when we needed it and to get us the ball back, give us another chance to get down there, get into the field goal range right there, and for Ryan to hit that, his first career game-winner, was amazing.

"Because it just ties the whole group and everybody had to do their part right there at the end, to win this game. So I'm so proud the way the team keeps coming together to find good football when we need it."

The fact that it was at home was also a significant part of this thing.

The Panthers have now won three in a row at home, the first time they've done that since 2022, when they banded together under interim coach Steve Wilks. That was obviously a time of transition, as all interim situations are, but now, this is beginning to feel familiar to people who have been here for a moment.

Long snapper JJ Jansen, who has played more games here than anyone (266 and counting), went back even deeper for comparisons of times when this place was special.

"I think back to those years, 2013 to 2017, Thomas Davis would always say we've got to defend our dirt, and I think that's where it starts, right?" Jansen said. "You've got to win your games at home. I'll give you another one. John Fox used to say if you win all your games at home and split on the road, you go 12-4. The first thing you've got to do to be a good team is you've got to win your home games. And even going back to the end of last season, we're winning our home games, and that's really important for the team.

"I personally don't like talking about winning streaks, but you'd like to play football consistently enough that all of a sudden you look up and you've won four in a row or seven of eight and you know you're playing well and the guys gain confidence that, all right, we played pretty well today, but we were behind in the second half and we had to make a couple of drives; one to take the lead, another one to win the game, and I would argue those are our two best drives in the game.

"So, that stuff's important, and again winning at home, ending with the ball, ending with a kick, not giving them the ball back. That's execution, that's confidence, it's all those things."

That's the message Canales keeps preaching. If they do they work in a consistent way, the results will follow.

So for him, Sunday was as much an affirmation as a celebration.

"It's a group commitment to the process and the way that we practice, the way that we study, the way that we talk to each other, and the type of effort that we ask for in our practices," Canales said. "It leads to good results, and there's got to be a trust in this process that it will lead to good things. If you just show up and give us everything you have when you're in this building when you walk in these doors, it leads to improvement. That's what we're looking for, progress, we're looking for improvement in all areas, and we're seeing that we're seeing groups work together, to be able to come away with the full team win right there was really amazing, and it allows me to just double down on the fact that this process works.

"We stay together, we continue to just bravely and courageously look at the mistakes that we've made and correct them, and this is a group that's just continuing to get better each week."

That kind of resilience has been evident, both in last week's franchise-record tying comeback to beat the Dolphins, and Sunday's game-winning drive to seal a shootout win against the league's No. 1 offense, after they made just enough stops to make it count.

That's showing them all something.

"We're fighting, we're fighters," cornerback Jaycee Horn said. "You know, we've been finishing every game good. I think even in the losses we had, we finished good in the fourth quarter, and that's just our brand. And we're finishers.

"But we don't think too much into the stats, and first time being .500 like I said, every year is a new year, we've got to approach it that way. It was a good win today, and then tomorrow you get back to work, be ready to go to New York next week."

The fact that Horn referenced the need to get back to work is telling. Along with captain Derrick Brown, he's one of the consciences of the locker room, and as the celebration began, Brown had a message that's become typical for him.

When asked about the atmosphere in the winning locker room, newcomer Tre'von couldn't help but break into a wide grin.

"It's upbeat, man, it's energy, it's infectious," he said. "We feel good, but like DB said, it's back to work tomorrow and the next opponent.

"That's DB, that's our guy."

That's a lot of them, especially the ones who have been here for some of the lean years between the end of the first Cam Newton-era success and the changes that have followed on a regular basis.

Horn shook his head when asked about all the numbers that are piling up, including the fact that this is the first time the Panthers have been .500 this deep in a season since 2021. They were 5-5 after the Newton "I'm back" game at Arizona, and then lost seven straight to close.

That season was Horn's rookie year, but it ended for him after the 3-0 start with a win in Houston, the night he broke his foot. And again, they won two of their next 14 games after that.

"I don't even look at the numbers of where we're at, because like we started 3-0 my rookie year, and I forgot when we ended, but it wasn't good," Horn said. "So you've got to refocus every week, win or loss, try to get better from the tape and be ready to execute the next Sunday."

That doesn't mean it's not fun.

Tight end Tommy Tremble was also part of the class of 2021, and he's also seen some things. But Sunday, he got to hurdle a guy, he got to help close a game, and he got to celebrate.

Those things are all worth something.

"I mean, the momentum in the building, the feeling in the building is different, and everyone can feel that," Tremble said. "And so having this win at home, being undefeated in the Bank, it's the best feeling ever, man. We defend our home, and it's fun to go out there and win a football game. . . .

"I mean, we go into every game now thinking that we are going to win that game. There's no doubt, there's no anything. When we go in that huddle on offense, we're like, let's go win this game. It runs through us. Let's win this game on this drive, and we all believe that, and I think that's something that's special, and it's good when your football team has that kind of mentality."

And it's even better when you have evidence that the confidence is built on something stable.