CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales is all about accountability.

So after a day in which his offense got worked over by the Texans' talented front seven — in particular Houston's pass rush — he was blunt.

"Two words, Danielle Hunter, Will Anderson," Canales said. "I think that's four words actually, but those guys are fantastic players."

The Texans' pass-rushers did a number on Panthers offensive tackles Rasheed Walker and Monroe Freeling in Wednesday's joint practice, but then again, they do a number on a lot of people. So Bryce Young being chased around (there would have likely been four sacks or more if we were counting) wasn't great, but it also wasn't exactly news.

In 10 seasons, Hunter has 114.5 sacks, including 15.0 last year. In three seasons, Anderson has 30.0, including 12.0 last year. (For context, the Panthers had 30.0 as a team last year.) The Texans also led the league in total defense and were second in points allowed. So they do this to a lot of people.

That's why Canales called it a "lopsided" day.

"That's exactly what we need to see," Canales said. "Monroe needs it. Rasheed needs it. When we dropped back today, we did little beyond Bryce extending and getting a couple of plays going.

"The (Texans) rush was phenomenal. And that's exactly the information we need to be able to regroup."

Young also threw a couple of interceptions, making it a frustrating day for the first offense. And like Canales, he urged the kind of perspective to take it as one data point rather than an illustration of camp as a whole. Considering they started camp without starting tackles Ikem Ekwonu and Taylor Moton, the group has held up reasonably well. Walker is a good pass protector (a three-year starter on the left for the pass-happy Packers), and first-rounder Freeling has played well for the bulk of camp, despite switching from his natural left side to the right.

But after a day in which the offense struggled to get things going, it was easy to draw a line from the protection to the lack of sustained movement. Young still has confidence in his guys, but he knows it needs to be better across the board. And that includes himself, as he admitted he needed to be better after a back-foot interception when he was looking for Tetairoa McMillan.

"Again, I think there's a lot of great tape for us to learn from out there," Young said. "There's a lot of lessons out there. I think we're, we're only going to be better from a day like this. You know, it's going to sting, and it sucks in the moment. We're all competitors.

"But, again, it's training camp; it's always about not being too high, not being too low. Great days we have in practice, you can't overreact; bad days you can't overreact. You have to be steady and, and just be willing to grow from everything."

The Panthers have plenty to look at after this one.

Panthers defense forces Texans into short game

By Derrick Brown's standards, the Panthers defense could have had a better day against the Texans offense.

"We had an average day for us," the lineman shrugged after Wednesday's joint practice.

Other than the final two periods, the Panthers had what most people would call an above-average day, and we'll get into those details below, but average seemed a harsh word to use. But Brown has set a standard for this ever-improving defense, and Wednesday didn't meet it.

"I got high expectations," he responded. "I got real high expectations."

The Pro Bowler's expectations aside, the Panthers defense was able to stymie a lot of what CJ Stroud and the Texans wanted to do.

The first move-the-ball drill opened with Mike Jackson flying in for a pass break-up that lit a spark for the day. Brown led the run defense to swallow up running back Woody Marks on the next play, setting the tone for what Houston was able to do on the ground—between the run defense and Jackson and Jaycee Horn, Stroud and group had to settle for short gains on quick throws.

"We want to be able to dominate the line of scrimmage. I mean, CJ's a good quarterback, right? He's going to find his dinks and dunks," Brown explained. "They're getting the ball out quick today."

Akayleb Evans ended a move-the-ball drive for the second team, breaking up a Davis Mills pass on the pseudo third-down. On the subsequent drive, Horn was a menace, breaking up two passes in a row. Nico Collins caught a pass on Jackson to end the drill, but after a questionable no-call on what would likely be offensive pass-interference in the game.

The second move-the-ball period saw Jackson shaken up early on, and Stroud took advantage, picking on the rotation of corners that filled in. When he tried over the middle though, Tre'von Moehrig was in place to keep the receiver from getting there, and Chau Smith-Wade closed out the drill, forcing an incompletion on a low throw.

Until the final two-minute drill, the Texans couldn't get a deep passing game going, relying on the dinks and dunks Brown mentioned, to little avail. It was a good reminder for an important lesson.

"I mean, that's very encouraging. If it's bombs over Baghdad, you're going to get your ass whooped," chuckled Brown. "So we don't want to do that for sure."

The group stayed locked down during the first red zone drill, led by Brown — again — on the first play, not allowing the running game to go anywhere but backward. Jaelan Phillips forced two quarterback hurries, leading to an overthrow and a Horn PBU over the middle of the field. Nick Scott rounded out that drill with a hit stick tackle to knock the back out of bounds.

In the final two-minute drill, though, with Horn on the sideline, Stroud and the group moved quickly, thanks to a huge opening throw across midfield. Two quick plays later, rookie tight end Marlin Klein got in open space and took the wheel route in for the touchdown.

It was a drill that the defense needed in preparation for the beginning of the season.

The group stayed locked down during the first red zone drill, led by Brown — again — on the first play, not allowing the running game to go anywhere but backward. Jaelan Phillips forced two quarterback hurries, leading to an overthrow and a Horn PBU over the middle of the field. Nick Scott rounded out that drill with a hit stick tackle to knock the back out of bounds.

In the final two-minute drill, though, with Horn on the sideline, Stroud and the group moved quickly, thanks to a huge opening throw across midfield. Two quick plays later, rookie tight end Marlin Klein got in open space and took the wheel route in for the touchdown.

It was a drill that the defense needed in preparation for the beginning of the season.

"So, I mean for us, it's about going in here and watching the tape, being honest with ourselves and getting back to work," explained Brown.

"Self-accountability.  We're going to go in here and watch the tape, take ownership.  We didn't like the way that two-minute ended, but I mean, we're going to go in here and get better. We're going to go in here and watch that tape and be honest with one another. I think that just, it doesn't start with the coaches, right? It starts with the players.

"Sometimes you get in a room, like, somebody's going to get on my ass. I got to get on somebody else's ass, and that's just how it goes."

No starters in Friday's preseason finale

Canales said that after a day in which the first units took around 75 percent of the team snaps, the starters would not play in Friday night's preseason finale at Bank of America Stadium.

"Yeah, we will not play the starters," Canales said. "DeMeco (Ryans) and I talked about that last night, decided the amount of work we were going to get them this practice was really getting the starters a ton of reps. They took about 75 percent of the snaps with the twos and threes getting a little bit of work, just to make sure their body is moving and they're in the rhythm of it, but those guys will finish it out for us and a great opportunity for them to compete and show us what they got."

The Panthers won't have rookie quarterback Haynes King available Friday, as he continues to recover from his Hall of Fame Game hamstring injury, so Kenny Pickett and Kyle Trask will get a lot of work.

No fights, and that's a positive

Usually when different teams get together in training camp, fights are a staple.

But Wednesday, the Panthers and Texans were able to get along all day long. On the final play of the practice, there was almost one when Jimmy Horn Jr. went high for a touchdown and took a shot from Texans safety George Odum. Odum refused to get off Horn, trying to rip the ball out of his hands. Wide receiver John Metchie III came over to intervene, but by that time, there was enough of a crowd to disperse it; the horn blew, and they all hugged it out.

"Just an unbelievable job as a group, as a whole, for DeMeco and I just communicating what we're looking for," Canales said. "The guys understanding all that does is distract us from the goal of today, which is to get a really physical practice to get as many reps as we can in different situations. We've got to get the conditioning part of it. When the fights happen, it slows the whole thing down.

"It's like these big resets, and it's just a distraction. And so that part of it, I also know it's really important when the coaches get together to plan on joint practices, your play style has to make sense with each other. And I know DeMeco coaches his guys really hard and they play physical and fast, and that's the way we coach our guys. We have a physical brand of ball that we practice with, so it's very comfortable for us to be in that setting without taking it personally."

Another joint session, another reunion

This is the second year in a row the Panthers and Texans have met for a joint practice, and the second week in a row Carolina has enjoyed the reunions that come with such a session. Wednesday was particularly special, though, for a group of Bama boys.

Bryce Young and Will Anderson were permanent captains together for the Tide in both 2021 and 2022.

"That's my brother," Young said of Anderson afterward, and the long chat the two had post-practice. "We were at Bama at the same time; that's someone I'm extremely close with, so it's always good to be able to catch up with him and be around him."

The two spent a long time after practice, having a catch-up session, and were joined by receiver John Metchie III. He was with the duo in Tuscaloosa as well for college, before getting drafted to the league in Houston, keeping him with Anderson, before coming to Charlotte as a free agent this offseason, reuniting him with Young.

He echoed Young's sentiment that the three were brothers, bonded for life beyond football.

Young also got a chance to reconnect with his childhood friend, Texans QB CJ Stroud. The two recently put on a football camp together this summer.

"Some of those special teams periods we're able to talk a little bit," Young said of his time with Stroud on Wednesday. "It's definitely a blessing having guys that I'm really close with. It's a blessing for all of us to be up here, able to have these joint practices really, and it's cool after."

While preseason and joint practices don't count towards a win-loss record, that time between the whistles, though, there are no friends.

"While we're within the lines — we all feel the same way — I'm just a Carolina Panther. That's all that matters within those lines."

Injury updates

Linebacker Devin Lloyd didn't practice Wednesday and hasn't been on the field since the joint practice with the Jaguars last week.

Canales said he was still getting treatment on a sore knee, with an eye toward possibly having him today.

"I wouldn't say anything out of the norm of what we're just treating guys for, soreness," Canales said. "His knee flared up, so we weren't able to get him turned back around. I don't have any concerns for him playing, regular season Week 1."

The Panthers were still without wide receiver Xavier Legette (foot), but tight end Darren Waller got his most extensive work in team drills, including some time with Young and the ones.