CHARLOTTE — The clock continues to tick in the NFL.

So no matter how much they enjoyed looking at the film of Sunday's 30-0 win over the Falcons, the Panthers know there's another one coming soon.

But yeah, that was still fun while it lasted.

"Oh no, we're celebrating the heck out of it right now," Canales said of the film study of the win over the Falcons. "They're in there watching their plays; there's a lot to learn from. It wasn't a perfect game out there offensively, defensively we let things get out of there. But to get out of the game offensively without a turnover, obviously we had a punt that we put on the ground and we'd love to have no turnovers for the game. There's a lot to learn from, and so we have to be really tough, really disciplined about making sure we continue to push our football forward and improve.

"But you also have to enjoy these wins. Wins are hard to come by in the NFL, and they're all earned, but we'll take this moment to enjoy it and then right when these meetings end, we're flipping the switch and we're ready to go up to New England and focus on our new opponent."

Canales was looking at his watch during that last part, knowing that in minutes, not hours, they'd be onto the next thing.

But as he looked back at Atlanta, he mentioned a number of areas he was most pleased with, beginning with their kickoff coverage.

The Falcons' average drive start on possessions that began with a kickoff was inside the 20, which is hard to accomplish under the new rules. But between rookie kicker Ryan's work placing the ball on the ground in the landing zone to make them field it, and the other 10 guys getting down there, he liked what he saw.

"We watched all the kickoff coverages as a team just to show the spirit of our play-style," he said. "I truly believe that kickoff coverage kind of exemplifies who we want to be, and I believe in that's why I love special teams, but especially on kickoff, especially when you can start the game with a kick to be able to show the effort, the enthusiasm, after a great place of them celebrating the toughness, playing smart off of each other, and then finishing each play."

Canales grateful players honored him with game ball

As the shouts and celebration tapered out in the locker room, following the Panthers' 30-0 win over the Falcons, quarterback Bryce Young stepped to the middle of the group, a ball in hand.

The Panthers typically don't give out game balls, a standard Dave Canales has had since arriving, as a way not to miss anyone in the aftermath. Instead, he typically works his way down the box score, highlighting guys who made an impact on the day. But Young wanted to assign this one, given it was the Panthers' first win of the season, and one that came in such a dominating, stifling fashion at home and over a divisional opponent.

"Hey, real quick," Young said, gathering his teammates' attention. "First win of the year, it's only right, it goes to Coach Canales," he finished, turning to extend the ball to his head coach with a smile.

"I was just really grateful, I think, that just collectively as a group we've been pushing on and and really striving for playing good football," Canales shared Monday, while recapping the moment, and the symbolic nature it represented of a player-led team giving a tip of the hat to their head coach.

"For me, you know, in that moment they give me the game ball, I'm super proud that at the same time, while I'm always thinking of pouring into our guys, they're also there to encourage me and challenge me. And they'll bring things up to me, too. So, I was really thankful that they chose that."

Canales offers injury updates on Ja'Tavion Sanders, others

Canales deferred when asked about injuries on Monday, saying he'd wait until he had an official word on Wednesday to update the status of tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders and wide receiver Xavier Legette, who was inactive Sunday after last week's hamstring issue.

He left the win over the Falcons with an ankle injury and did not return. He had two catches for 11 yards against the Falcons and has 11 catches for 92 yards in three games.

The Panthers went deeper at the position Sunday than they had, with Tommy Tremble and rookie Mitchell Evans playing more as they used two- and three-tight end sets. The Panthers also have James Mitchell on the roster, and he hasn't been active for a game this year.

Canales did update reporters on offensive linemen Robert Hunt and Austin Corbett, who went on injured reserve last week. He said Hunt had "a successful surgery" to repair his torn biceps tendon.

"And it's going to be a long time," Canales said. "We're looking at maybe end-of-the-season type of a return, but again, that's all going to just depend on how his recovery process is."

Corbett, who suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee, has not had surgery and continues to rehab here. That's the same knee as his torn ACL from 2022, and Corbett said the hope was that the area being stronger would help shorten his recovery time.

"It's closer to, the number I got was 6-to-8 weeks, in that range," Canales said of Corbett. "But different guys heal at different rates, and he's had similar injuries before, so I think he has a process and kind of knows how to approach that and attack it."

Panthers protect well against Falcons' pass-rush

The Falcons came into Sunday's Week 3 game ranked in the Top 5 in the league in sacks. They also had one of the highest blitz rates in the NFL. But despite replacing two starters on the offensive line (albeit with two former starters), the Panthers were able to mitigate Atlanta's pass-rush all day.

"I felt like with (defensive coordinator) Jeff Ulbrich being there, Raheem (Morris) brought him in for a reason, and so there was a different flavor, there was a little bit different signature, and our guys did a really good job of picking up some of the issues," said Canales on Monday.

"They got us on one, you know, Bryce kind threw a low ball to TMac ( Tetairoa McMillan) and (Jessie) Bates was free. They schemed that pressure up really well. And I thought, besides that, I thought Bryce just made great decisions. He mitigated some of those challenges by getting the ball out quickly or by just getting us to a run or different types of solutions."

According to Next Gen Stats, Young faced a 63 percent blitz rate from the Falcons, but negated it by getting rid of the ball in under 2.5 seconds against extra pass rushers (2.46 seconds).

"He used his toolbox well, and then it was just really well executed," continued Canales. "(Offensive line coach) Joe Gilbert does our protection, the O-line, Cade Mays did a fantastic job getting us targeted, and I thought Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle did an excellent job playing physical, in the interior.

Young finished 9-of-14 for 72 yards against the blitz; he was pressured only seven times (25.9 percent pressure rate) and was sacked only once, against a defense that generated six sacks last week against the Vikings.