CHARLOTTE — During the first half of last week's win over the Dolphins, running back Rico Dowdle went to coaches with a particular play he wanted to run, and it turned into a 53-yard gain to start the second half.

According to quarterback Bryce Young, that kind of stuff happens reasonably often.

Echoing Dave Canales' praise of the team's "communication" in the win, Young said on Wednesday that those conversations are ongoing between himself and coaches during games.

"He wants us to take ownership, and he called a shot," Young said. "Of course, did a great job executing it, up front, they did an amazing job, but yeah, it's great to see that. Ownership is something that coaches talk about all the time. We're grateful for them empowering us to take that ownership, and it speaks to the competitor and the player Rico is."

Young said those conversations are organic and happen throughout the week as they practice and prepare game plans. But they can also adapt on the fly and make changes during games, depending on the looks they see from opponents.

"We have talks throughout the week, on the sideline," he said of his discussions with Canales and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik. "It's great to have someone that's, hey, what do you see out there? He's always encouraged us to talk, hey, this could come up. This is something that's going on, this is something that is in the plan that I think would be good, and he's always communicating things he sees to me. So again, it's great for our staff that they empower us to do that.

"Stuff like that, it's not super uncommon. It's just like, hey, I think they're ready for this, I think this is coming up. Because, throughout the week, we kind of talk through the plan, obviously, you react as things go, but most of the time it's not this out of left field, draw up a play. It's, hey, we know we want to get to this at this point, we want to see how they're feeling, so, yeah, it's fairly frequent."

Coker's return comes with cautious excitement

Canales had to temper expectations on Wednesday. Still, walking off the practice field, it was hard not to be excited: for the first time this regular season, receiver Jalen Coker was on the field with his teammates, practicing with the offense.

"He looked good. He ran crisp routes. He looks fast. He looks like Jalen," noted Canales after practice.

Coker was acting as a scout team receiver on Wednesday, filling in as George Pickens for the defense in the No. 3 jersey. It was a chance for a talented receiver to face off against the defense, but also for Coker, who had exited practice before the season with a quad injury.

His timeline for this week remains undetermined. It will depend on how his quad reacts to Wednesday's practice. But running on the scout team allows Coker time to work his way back, and for Canales to evaluate his progress.

"We want to make sure that he can put the volume of this full week in before we make a decision on whether to bring him up this week or not, so, we're trying to get extra reps here and there, some scout team reps and some full speed routes and ramp up his volume tomorrow to see where he's at, to see if he can handle it so we can trust that he's ready to go for a full game."

Wednesday was the start of Coker's 21-day window, in which he can return to practice and be elevated off injured reserve and back to the active roster. That window is why Canales is reminding himself to be patient and not push his receiver back too early.

"When you open a player's window, it's easy to make decisions to try to get them back out there, especially when there's a guy like Jalen who we relied on to make plays for us last year," explained Canales. "But at the same time, we have to open the window and be realistic about what he can handle. Let him show us what he's ready to handle. So, we'll take it day to day here and make a decision."

As a rookie, the undrafted free agent gem finished with 32 receptions for 478 yards and two touchdowns through 11 games. His longest of the season was an 83-yard touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys. Simply having him back on the field with the offense on Wednesday was a boost.

"He brings the time, a competitor he is, how hard he works, someone who's physical, fast, really good route runner, super strong hands, really good after the catch, I think it's just another element obviously," praised quarterback Bryce Young of Coker.

As mentioned, Coker's return is tentative. But regardless of when it happens, and if it's as early as this weekend, Young is confident in what they will be putting back on the field.

"People don't get to see the work that he puts in throughout the week," said Young. "Obviously when someone goes on IR, from outside perspective you kind of just, you know, kind of forget that they're around or don't think about him as much, but actually being a part of the the team, being a part of the building, seeing how we work, seeing how he's killing himself in the weight room, killing himself in the training room, doing every little thing, engaged in the walk through, still asking questions, even on weeks when he knows he's not going to be up for for multiple more weeks, game plan is going to change, still standing engaged.

"So, I'm happy for him because he's been putting in a tremendous amount of work."

Happy to be home again this weekend

The Panthers opened the season with three road games in the first four, but get to play at home for a second straight week Sunday.

While there are multiple benefits to that, Canales mentioned getting to see three of his kids' soccer games last weekend as one of the real fringe benefits of back-to-back home games.

"I mean speaking personally, it's just spending time with my family, spending time with my wife and my kids throughout the week," he said, getting an "awwww" from the crowd. "And where you normally get on a plane sometime on Saturday afternoon, and I get to go see soccer, and you know those types of things that just put you in a good state of mind."

Of course, Canales knows his team's going to play half its games on the road, and he wants to be buttoned-up there as well.

"I will say the flip side, I think in my experience when I'm on the road, I have a window on the plane to watch a little bit more film, to look at my call sheet one more time, go up and down the aisles talking to players, talking to coaches," he said. "And so there's a connectedness that happens to a team playing on the road. We've got to be able to make sure that shows up on game day.

"But we certainly love being here at home, playing in Bank of America Stadium, where we're familiar. We do everything here. We have our meetings and our practices, and we love it here. And so we look forward to that, just having the back-to-back weeks where we can kind of, you know, spend time with our families and really recover that way, going into this long season."

Panthers legend Greg Olsen on the call for FOX

Speaking of home games, former Panthers tight end Greg Olsen will see his old team for the first time this weekend.

Olsen will be in the Fox booth Sunday with play-by-play man Adam Amin, just a few doors down in the press box from his old teammate and fellow middle school football coach Luke Kuechly in the Panthers Radio Network booth.

Olsen played here from 2011-19, and became the first tight end in league history to record three straight 1,000-yard seasons.