CHARLOTTE — The world has seen "playoff Bryce Young" before. When the quarterback goes into that "Bama Bryce" mode, as it's colloquially known, the third-year passer hits a new level. The Panthers have seen him click into that mode a few times this season, as he's led six game-winning drives in 2025 alone, bringing his total to 12 career game-winning drives, the most by an NFL quarterback before reaching 25 years old.

"He's grown every game this year, especially in these tight games that we've had," noted receiver David Moore on Tuesday. "Watching him come down and break records and have a great season, the season he's having, so to see him in the playoffs, man, he's been there, he's been at 'Bama, so the pressure won't hurt him, you know. So I'm excited to watch him play, watch him keep doing great things, and lead us all the way."

During three postseason games while the starting quarterback at Alabama, Young went 67-106 for 871 yards (averaging 290.3 a game) with nine touchdowns to three interceptions. During the six-game winning drives this season, the former No. 1 overall pick has averaged 8.5 plays and 60.3 yards a drive, including moments that were daring, aggressive, featured throws into tight windows, and fourth-down conversions that were highlight-reel worthy.

It's why Dave Canales is so excited to show what Bryce Young can deliver in an NFL playoff game this weekend.

"I'm so fired up for Bryce and for the whole crew, but these are the moments—in my mind, when we've put Bryce into these high stakes situations, he's performed well," Canales bragged Tuesday. "Whether it's going for it on fourth down, end of game type of stuff, it's an area where he just continues to execute and do the basics and the fundamentals that we ask him to, and so, these games are like that.

"And when you're playing a great opponent like the Rams, all the little execution and the fundamentals are so important, and so I love this challenge, for our group and especially for Bryce."

Of course, for Young himself, these moments are a culmination of everyone around him. He knows he can lean back on the college playoff experience, and will. But more so, he's leaning on his current receivers, offensive line, and coaches, drawing from what they have done this season to know it can happen again against the Rams.

"You always draw from experience in the past, but at the end of the day, again, I trust—confidence comes from the Lord," said Young.

"It comes from the people around me. I'm going to lean on them on Saturday like I have been all year. We're all going to lean on each other. It's great to be able to have a group like that where, again, we're all united, we all know we're going in, we have each other's back, so I think that's really what I, and probably everyone in the building, is going to be leaning on."

"Couple of huge days" for Rob Hunt

The Panthers activated wide receiver David Moore from injured reserve on Tuesday, and they should have a better idea soon whether right guard Robert Hunt is ready to join him.

Hunt was a full participant in practice on Tuesday, and Canales said that Wednesday's practice would be a good barometer of whether he'll be ready to appear for the first time since tearing his biceps tendon in Week 2.

"Rob's got a couple of huge days; he looked great today," Canales said. "Tomorrow is going to be an elevated practice. We're going to run a little bit more, push on each other a little bit, and that's going to be a really big test for him, so we're just going to have to take that one day to day.

"But I'm very optimistic about it. He's excited about it; he's so proud to be part of what we've been doing. He's kind of been watching it from the sidelines, literally. But to be a part of where we're at as it should be, feels really special for Rob."

Canales admitted that there was some sensitivity about possibly replacing guys who have helped the Panthers get to this point, but the potential of adding a Pro Bowler like Hunt at this point in the season was also exciting as he and general manager Dan Morgan discussed roster moves.

"That's always a really difficult decision for me and for Dan, as we think about the guys who've worked so hard to help us to get to this point," Canales said. "And understanding that the plan was always that Rob and D-Mo (Moore) were going to help us do that, and now they're ready.

"And we have this window to evaluate the guys, to get David back on the team and evaluate if we can have him up this week or not, we have to make those decisions too."

Huge strides on defense this season

A year ago, the Panthers were setting the wrong kind of records, including one for the most points allowed in a season in league history (534), and the third-most rushing yards allowed (3,057).

They ranked 32nd in the league in a lot of categories, but finished the regular season 15th in points allowed and 16th in yards allowed.

Canales began by crediting defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who had a better cast of characters to work with after the return of Derrick Brown and a busy offseason of additions, including Tre'von Moehrig, Tershawn Wharton, and Christian Rozeboom.

"Yeah, first and foremost, just talking about Ejiro and just the excellent job that he's done," Canales said. "And with the challenges of last year, what I saw from him was consistency, character, looking for solutions, and looking for ways to try to just deploy the guys that we have. We added some great pieces.

"These are guys that we've counted on, to come through and to play together, and he's done a great job of just also within that scheme, and there's understanding who your players are, bringing them together so that we have the right concepts we can execute, And Ejiro and the defensive staff have been tireless just bringing these guys together and then the players have taken a lot of that on their own and do the extra work, have the conversation so that they play connected."

Life is good, playoff edition

The Panthers are feeling good about life in general at the moment, as they're in the playoffs for the first time since 2017, and not talking about draft picks or whatever else usually comes in January.

But the fact that the skies were blue and the temperatures were in the mid-60s contributed to the mood, and there were a lot of people simply enjoying a sublime Charlotte day.

"What a beautiful day to get out there in the sun," Canales beamed. "All the guys are excited, fired up, a lot of great energy on the grass today, and then we got just amazing weather, 65 degrees and sunny. I mean, you can't beat it.

"So, for this time of year to be able to get outside and work on your craft, it means a lot, to just be connecting together, and we're excited about this week."

The Panthers practiced a little later in the afternoon than normal, but Canales said that was based on waiting until Sunday afternoon to know who they were playing, and giving coaches a day to prep the game plan and prepare for the rest of the week.