CHARLOTTE — The Panthers were just walking through on Tuesday, a short day in short-sleeve shirts (with a lot of layers underneath them), but it wasn't a strenuous day.

Whatever it was, running back Rico Dowdle wasn't taking part.

Dowdle didn't participate because of a toe issue, and Panthers head coach Dave Canales said he wasn't sure what that meant for the rest of the week.

"Came out of the game a little bit more sore than normal," Canales said. "And so we just decided to give him a rest day and, well, I'm pretty confident that he'll be able to go, but we've got to just take it day by day and see what he can do tomorrow."

Dowdle had 12 carries for 59 yards last week against the Seahawks and hasn't topped 100 yards since the Packers game in early November. But they've managed to run well as a collective whole at times since then, averaging 122.8 per game on the ground over the last four.

And despite Chuba Hubbard's third-quarter fumble and new role after Dowdle emerged this year, Canales has nothing but confidence in his ability as well. With Dowdle playing a larger share of snaps, Hubbard has only topped 10 carries in a game once in the second half of the season, when he had 17 for 83 yards in the win over the Rams.

"Chuba is an absolute stud," Canales said. "He's one of the leaders of our group. I lean on him, for mentality, to make sure that we're in the right place, we're focused. He certainly just challenges the whole group by how he works and how he prepares.

"I love Chuba, going to give him the ball some more, and find ways for him to impact the game, because he's just a guy that I really trust. And that whole room, really, you know, Bernie (Parmalee, the running backs coach) has done a great job. They're a bunch of tough guys. They do the dirty work when we ask them to, and they're available for us all along this season, especially the way we want to run the ball."

Rob Hunt continuing to progress, status for Saturday uncertain

Right tackle Robert Hunt doesn't know if there's a particular percentage he can apply to how he's feeling, but he does know, "I am better than what I told you last week. I'm better than that."

An improving Rob Hunt is still an encouraging sign for the Carolina Panthers, who could possibly call up the Pro Bowler ahead of this weekend's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Granted, that's still an "if," but one that at least exists on the horizon. That's more than Carolina thought they might get when Hunt first injured his bicep in Week 2.

"We'll have a couple more days to look at that to make a decision for this week, and then we got to see what happens," shared Dave Canales on Tuesday, after what began Hunt's second week of practice since his 21-day window was opened.

"So, I wouldn't say today like 'Yes, Rob's going,' but I think that today was a promising step in the right direction."

That promising step included Hunt seeing more and more action, both in drills, team runs, and individual work, to test not only his bicep strength, but how it relates to his entire upper body.

"It's a collective part first and foremost," explained Canales, "making sure that the injury, that the strength and support is around his full upper body to be able to handle what's a violent game, and so we're trying to simulate some of those things for him so that he has confidence to be able to do that."

The Panthers will have a full practice on Wednesday and then hold what amounts to their normal Friday practice on Thursday, before heading to Tampa the following day. That provides at least two more opportunities to see if Hunt can prove he's ready for action ahead of the regular season finale.

"He had another great day," Canales said. "We were able to give him more. We got to push him a little bit more tomorrow as well."

Thanks Falcons, but eye on the ball

While the Falcons did the Panthers an enormous favor Monday night, not too many people in the Panthers locker room were prepared to throw them a party.

By beating the Rams, the Falcons preserved the chaos scenario, in which a three-way tie for first in the NFC South would allow the Panthers to go to the playoffs even with a loss at Tampa Saturday. (The Falcons would still need to beat the Saints on Sunday for that to happen.)

Quarterback Bryce Young wasn't even aware of that scenario (as expected), and Canales took it back to the most basic one — if they win, they're in.

"We're aware of all those scenarios, and it's a pretty simple path," Canales said. "We've got to handle business and win the game, and that's got to be our focus, first and foremost. A team that I really respect and that we just played a couple weeks ago, so we have to approach this thing like we didn't just play them, don't take anything for granted, make sure we're on the details, and all the other scenarios will play out how they will.

"I was watching the game last night. I watch every game on Monday night, and, you know, this one right here, it's got implications. But at the same time, the focus has to be there for us to be able to handle business and play our best ball."

To make it clear, the Panthers will win the division with a win or a tie Saturday at Tampa, or a Falcons win Sunday. The Bucs need a win coupled with a Falcons loss or tie to advance.

Either way, the NFC West champion is locked into the fourth seed and will play the runner-up from the NFC West.

The Rams need a win over the Cardinals, plus a 49ers loss to the Seahawks, to get to the fifth seed. Seattle becomes the fifth seed with a loss to the 49ers Saturday night, while the 49ers end up in that spot with a tie against the Seahawks, or a loss to the Seahawks plus a Rams loss or tie.

So stay tuned.

Opening up the playbook in the finale

This is the final week of the regular season, so Canales was asked if that might cause him to go deeper in his bag of plays for this week, knowing there's no guarantee of another one.

But he said as he consults with offensive coordinator Brad Idzik on the game plan, they want to make sure they're not just winging it with stuff guys aren't familiar with. They did add a quarterback sneak last week with tight end Mitchell Evans, but that's something they had been working on for several weeks before implementation.

"A little bit, but at the same time I have to be aware of what our guys can handle," Canales said. "and that's really my biggest responsibility, Brad and I, is identifying the scope of what we can handle from a football standpoint with this group. How much run game can we handle? How much pass game, how many little wrinkles and nuances, because all those things, even when you're running plays that have several different motions, and you're trying to get a defense in a specific look and all that, those take a lot of timing, a lot of detail. And they're different than the normal calls that you would make, so they require as much, if not a little bit more attention.

"So, you've got to be careful about how much you try to do extra. The goal is to play fast, and I know that the best way to play fast is to have concepts that we're very confident with, that we're very comfortable with, and that gives us the best chance to have success."