CHARLOTTE — The first player Panthers head coach Dave Canales mentioned by name in the postgame celebration in the locker room was rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, ... of course.

It was that kind of day for the Panthers, and on a day when they leaned into his ideal of complementary football, having everyone's hands and feet on it seemed appropriate.

"How about Ryan Fitzgerald?" Canales said during his press conference. "You know, not just the field goals and PATs, but I really thought he impacted the game with how he kicked the ball off, and gave us some amazing field position, some different kicks that gave them some issues."

That kind of contribution summed up the day during the 30-0 win against the Falcons in the home opener at Bank America Stadium.

Fitzgerald tied for the second-longest field goal in franchise history with his 57-yarder in the second quarter, pushed his season-opening streak to five straight field goals without a miss, and kept the Falcons off guard with his kickoffs.

On his seven kickoffs, the Falcons average drive start was inside the 20-yard line (19.3), and they averaged just 11.6 yards on the five kicks they returned.

"That knuckle ball kick, we knew about it, we talked about it, we trained for it," Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. "And we didn't handle the situation well at all. What a great job by their kicker. What a great weapon that is by those guys. They took advantage of it all day. Something that we knew about. Something that we talked about. Something that we brought to the forefront, and we were not able to capitalize with our returners back there today, collecting those balls at the 10, getting those funny style kicks, being able to utilize those things on the field. And that's very disappointing."

But that was just part of the day for the Panthers, on an afternoon when Canales admitted: "Absolutely if we can play normal football, and we can play complementary football, a punt's not the worst thing."

Veteran long snapper JJ Jansen laughed when he heard about that one, because he was around when former coach John Fox popularized "a punt is not a bad play."

Because for the Panthers Sunday, the special teams came up with plays throughout the day, allowing a grand total of zero (0) yards on their punt returns, meaning Sam Martin's net is the same as his gross (45.0 yards per punt, including a 54-yarder).

Emblematic of the day was rookie receiver Dalevon Campbell who found out Saturday he was likely to be active for his first NFL game, and stepped in as gunner to drop Ray-Ray McCloud for no gain.

"I mean, it just shows what the team has already been doing and it's a great feeling just to put it all together," Campbell said. "We already knew we could do it. And it's a beautiful thing when we see like offense clicking, defense clicking, special teams clicking, it's beautiful. So it's been that that's the standard, and you know we set the standards, so we can't go below that.

"I just got here, so I've got to learn the playbook, and that's been a challenge, but it's everything going through my mind has been, excitement, nervous, but more so excitement."

But the star of the show was the kicker, who won a training camp competition over veteran Matthew Wright, but hasn't had chances to kick the long ones until Sunday (his two in the first two weeks were from 48 and 27, and Canales has passed up chances at kicks in the 50s).

"I'm so grateful for my teammates and coaches; I'm in the perfect place and it's just so gratifying," Fitzgerald said, and because he's a rookie, he's still finding his voice in the postgame.

But those around him are feeling it, even if he's not saying that much about it.

And Jansen said the confidence boost was the kind of thing that could last.

"I think the biggest thing with a young kicker is you're trying to give them good opportunities to find their rhythm and flow," the veteran snapper said. "But there's also a game situation and today's decision, whether you make it or miss it, you obviously want to make it, but that's the right decision.

"This was the right opportunity for him, and the cool part was that he was very confident. I've taught him like, hey, here's the deal, coaches are going to make that decision, but if you feel really, really good about a kick, just instantly go out on the field, and if they call you back, they call you back. But you're demonstrating confidence not only to your coaching staff but to yourself and your teammates, and he did that.

"I mean, right behind me, he's like, I want this, like, let's go. And I think you saw it like Sam was super excited with the kick because we want him to do well, and he was confident, and he wanted that kick, and it fit into the flow of the game well, so it's well done by him."

And well done by a lot of them, on a day when they needed them all.