CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales wasn't giving many updates on the physical condition of Bryce Young, but the good news is they have an extra day to let him rest this week.

Young didn't miss a snap of Sunday's 30-27 overtime win at Atlanta, but he was noticeably limping in the postgame and was heavily taped to get through the game after a first-quarter sack.

"We'll do the full evaluation and we'll have the updates out on Thursday," Canales said Monday, heading off the obvious question at the pass.

An attempted follow-up was met with: "We'll let you know on Thursday."

Of course, with the next game on Monday Night Football against the 49ers, the Panthers have pushed the entire week's schedule back by a day, so the normal Wednesday injury-reporting process moves back a day too. But that also means another day of rest for a team that could use it, with two more games to play before their bye.

"A bonus day, so another day for recovery, get our bodies right, our minds right," Canales said of the work the team did on Monday, when everyone was in the building. "A chance to really look at some of the things in the last couple of weeks that went well, some of the things we need to continue to improve upon evaluating our players, but just trying to take advantage of that extra day so that our mind's right and then just attacking the game plan just like we would.

"So essentially we just bump back the whole week one day, and then get into the regular flow of our preparation."

As it pertains to Young, most of the look-back was positive, since he set a franchise record with 448 passing yards and three touchdowns. But it was also the toughness he showed that stood out.

"Just the resilience, an opportunity to show his teammates that he wants to be out there with those guys to win that game with them," Canales said. "And I think if Bryce was up here, he'd tell you first and foremost, whatever it takes to win and just try to find a way to contribute, try to find a way to affect the game, and he certainly was able to do that, getting himself back out there and battling through some stuff to be available for us and and coming up with some big plays when we needed it."

Fumble was great special teams, leading to a learning lesson on offense

When the Panthers got the ball to start the second half on Sunday, the offense made the most of it, capping a five-play, 68-yard drive with a touchdown from Young to Xavier Legette that sparked the comeback win.

The score made it a five-point game (the two-point conversion attempt failed), but if the Falcons had been able to answer with a score, the game—in theory—could have slipped from Carolina's hands.

Instead, on the ensuing kickoff, Bam Martin-Scott made a play that ensured Atlanta wouldn't be getting the chance. He forced a fumble on Natrone Brooks, and Princely Umanmielen recovered it, giving the Panthers the ball back at the Atlanta 32-yard line, and perhaps more importantly, given the situation, taking it away from the Falcons.

"That was Bam's second play of the day," pointed out a proud Canales on Monday. "He made a nice tackle earlier on a kickoff, and then that one, he had an opportunity to strike the ball, to punch at it with his open hand, and he was unblocked on the play, made a dynamic play, and got the ball down."

The offense was unable to capitalize on the field position. Young was stopped short of the sticks on a scramble on a fourth-and-1 play. After having a chance to evaluate the game and watch the tape, Canales wanted to specifically take responsibility for the fourth down that wasn't converted, though.

"I'm sick that we didn't get points out of that one," said the coach. "Just speaking of that situation, we're fourth-and-1 sitting right there. We were a little bit behind the clock on that play. I needed to take a timeout, let's regroup. This is too much of a critical situation in scoring position, so I got to take that one right there.

"But Bryce still got the play snapped in time and tried to make something happen on it, but I could have done a better job in that situation."

Young scrambled away from the loaded box that was intent on stopping Rico Dowdle, and seemed to have the edge to get to the marker, before Falcons' linebacker Kaden Ellis accelerated to make an impressive stop. In the end, though, the lack of points for the Falcons coming out of the half and the field position still paid off.

Atlanta took back over deep in their own territory, though, and eventually had to punt. The next drive, the Panthers added a field goal, chipping into the score for the eventual win.

Young players on defense played well in bigger roles

The Panthers stepped up defensively in the second half, allowing just 91 yards and six points after the break to a Falcons team that was putting up huge numbers early.

And while the usual suspects like Derrick Brown always have a hand in things, Canales singled out a couple of less-heralded players who contributed in significant ways.

"I'm most proud of the resilience of the group and the physicality we played with all the way to the end," he said. "Watching our defense, you know, the last couple of drives and then, and then certainly in overtime, just showing up with big hits, and with a different group of guys.

"Claudin Cherelus making some plays for us out there, with the guys trusting in him and Corey Thornton having an opportunity to impact the game and our usual guys that make plays for us that we count on, showing up and doing their job when we needed them to. So, a really exciting win for us."

Thornton, an undrafted rookie from Louisville, played 46 snaps of defense (70 percent), which was nearly more than he had gotten in the first 10 games combined (49 total snaps). He had five tackles, two passes defensed, and a forced fumble in that time.

"He's been showing a lot of ability in practice that we can count on," Canales said. "Watching him continue to improve his fundamentals, and a guy that's really into the game, really focused on the details, wants to know, a guy that competes with Chuba Hubbard to try to be on the field first every day. So, a competitive guy by nature, and then he's got length, he's got size. We thought it'd be a good matchup, knowing they were going to move Drake London around a little bit. So he got some opportunities yesterday and made the most of it."

Cherelus, who has been here since 2023, primarily plays on special teams but stepped into the starting lineup with Trevin injured and finished with a career-high 10 tackles and a pass defensed.

"We saw Claud at the end of the Saints game. He came back in and just picked up right where we left off," Canales said. "I think collectively as a group we let some runs get out on us in the first half, but once they settled in, Claud started to see the runs really well and look for his opportunities to make a play. And when he did, he showed up with physicality, whether it was in the run game or the pass game.

"He had a late nice collision, on a slant route to Drake London at the end of the game, where he just trusted his eyes and just bolted towards it and made a really physical play right there to get the ball down. And I was really proud of the way that Claud stepped up for his teammates."

Field goal timing in overtime was about routine

From the moment tight end Tommy Tremble rumbled down the near sideline for a 54-yard catch and run on Sunday, the game was essentially over. At that point, a field goal would win it for the Panthers, considering the Falcons had already possessed the ball and been forced to punt after the defense forced a three-and-out.

Tremble's explosive play put the Panthers at the Atlanta 15-yard line, which would be around a 33-yard field goal, the distance of an extra point. Ryan Fitzgerald has been nearly automatic, especially with game-winners, so it would make sense, on paper, to go ahead and kick the field goal there.

But Canales purposely waited.

They have a routine for game-winning kicks, which meant holding off.

"If you're in a timeout situation, it happens to be first, second, or third down, whatever down it is, obviously, you just take it down to four seconds and kick the field goal in those situations," Canales began his explanation on Monday.

"But in terms of like, you know, last year in Germany against the Giants, we forced that fumble, got the ball, ran it a couple times, kicked it on fourth-down. It's a part of our process. I like the kicker to just know in his head the ball's getting kicked on fourth down.

Kickers are creatures of habit, and by running the ball on the next three plays, essentially spotting it for Fitzgerald, the rookie was able to mentally stay locked into his normal process.

"The whole blocking unit's ready, everyone's prepared. We trust our guys to snap it, hold it, and make those kicks in that situation."

There was also the chance of a walk-off touchdown to leave a little less doubt. Canales pointed to the overtime win against the Arizona Cardinals last season, when Chuba Hubbard delivered a decisive victory.

"We had a walk-off on a handoff to Chuba, broke a couple of tackles, and scored a touchdown to win the game. So wanted to see potentially you could have that type of opportunity."

In the end, the Panthers' three runs with Rico Dowdle amounted to an extra 5 yards, giving Fitzgerald a chip-shot 28-yard field goal, spotted on the field where he wanted. It was enough to grab the sixth win of the season.

"Rico did a great job of securing the ball in those downs and getting us a couple of yards," Canales said. "We didn't make much out of it, but we were in a position to, we were in a good spot to kick the field goal."