CHARLOTTE — There was only one period left in the practice when Dave Canales called the entire team together. The Panthers had just finished two team drills—the first clearly won by the defense, the second dominated by the offense—and had a move-the-ball period remaining. But the head coach realized something wasn't right.

His defense, despite having the edge most of the day, was getting emotional and down as the offense took over the late team period.

So, he blew the horn, made everyone convene in the middle of the field, and delivered a challenge for the final 10 minutes.

"I just regrouped them and said these things are going to happen," Canales explained after practice. "It could be us on the top end of it, and we're playing great. We have to refocus and just maintain, and go back to the next play. It could be flipped where you have a couple of series, a quarter, sometimes a half of football—guys, we got to regroup, and emotions don't get it done.

"And so I was trying to explain to the guys that there's going to be heated and passionate conversations that happen in a game. But the only thing that's going to get us refocused is for us to be grounded, to go back to the basics and figure out and find solutions. Lots of yelling, lots of emotions, and all that, that doesn't fix anything, but sincere conversations, eye-to-eye contact, and connection, that's how we refocus as a team and take those steps.

"So I was just calling the guys up to say, 'OK, we have a move-the-ball period. Can we handle going back out there, and can we just do our job?' Full effort and get back to that focus in this environment, you know, at the end of practice when we're tired, this is when we find an edge. This is when we make it a game. That is an advantage for us, by the way we work in practice, by the way we push ourselves, we're comfortable being in these situations."

To be frank, this likely wasn't a defining moment of the 2025 Carolina Panthers. Even if this team goes on to make noise this season, most won't look back at a mid-practice pep speech in the first week of training camp as a turning point. But that's OK; Dave Canales wasn't preaching anything new to his team.

Instead, it was a chance to reiterate everything he has been saying and putting into action since arriving, reinforcing part of the identity he wants his team to have: tough and physical, yes, but also with the mental fortitude to always look towards the next play, the next chance.

"Winning culture is something that everybody strives to do, but I mean, to be honest, you only get so many opportunities to do so, and I feel like this team is one that, coach Canales has got his way set, he's always a move-to-the-next type of guy. So he doesn't harp on old things," defensive lineman Derrick Brown said.

"We go out, we practice, people make mistakes, we hit 'em when it comes time, and then we get to go right to the next."

That consistency from their head coach and a push for such amongst themselves saved the Panthers a few times last season. It's why Carolina was able to stay focused and outscore opponents in the second half 77-61 in five of the last six games of the 2024 season (excluding Week 17 vs. Buccaneers) and go 3-4 in overtime games.

It helped provide stability around the entire team as Bryce Young was benched, then returned following Andy Dalton's car wreck, and led a resurgence in the second half of the season.

And it created a foundation that allowed guys to breathe for the first time in years, knowing they were building something sustainable.

"It's a lot of consistency and I feel like we got a program now and we understand what we're here to do," noted Jaycee Horn.

The corner has had inconsistencies of his own, thanks to varying injuries over the years. But he is coming off a season in which he played 15 games, made the Pro Bowl, and was able to prepare in the offseason knowing he would return to the same defensive coordinator and much of the same defensive staff.

That latter point is the most crucial, and to borrow Horn's word, that is what separates a "program" from a team.

"Now guys know what coaches (are) expecting," Horn continued. "You're not learning a whole new—like it's the same language in the meetings, same practice schedule, same camp schedule, like you're kind of used to it, so now you can just focus on the football part and getting better each and every day."

A team is any assembly of people associated together under the same banner, whether for work, play, or a cause, even if only for a day. A program is a long-term plan for the team, ensuring everyone knows the objectives for the team as a whole and their part in achieving them.

A team has matching jerseys. A program has matching goals.

Or, as Dave Canales put it, "making sure that we all have the same message, the same philosophy, the same mentality."

The best way to do that, this coaching staff feels, is to invest at the beginning, crafting a team from the ground up. It's one reason Dan Morgan and the front office have so relentlessly pursued young talent the last two offseasons. The average age on the Panthers' roster—which is pulled slightly up by three guys 34 or older—skews towards the younger side in the league at 25.65 years old currently.

"We're developmentally minded. We are all about these players. Everybody in this building is here to serve them," Canales promised. "In terms of just the care, the resources from a coaching standpoint, all across the weight room and nutrition in the cafeteria, wherever it is, that these guys are being affected by that, the culture is care, the culture is love and respect.

"Our schemes are second to none, that we're going to be really good at our core concepts and we're going to push the envelope and see what's out there…just the way that the locker room, the way that those guys are coming together to have a style of play, it's showing up every day in practice, just the effort and the conversation is all ball."

While a team can be a group of individuals moving in the same direction but at their own pace, a program is a contingent moving as one. The expectations are understood, the goals are clearly defined, and when a long practice on a hot day distracts from that a bit, the coaches and leaders can recognize it quickly enough to recalibrate.

It's a palpable difference for the Carolina Panthers.

"Less talk and more working," said Brown as an explanation. "Nobody's talking. We're just working. Nobody's talking. We're just working and we're going to go out here and hopefully shock some people this year."