CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales wants his players to talk — to him and to each other. In turn, he's going to listen.

Canales mentioned several ways that the open lines of communication were a benefit to the team in Sunday's 27-24 comeback win against the Dolphins, from Rico Dowdle calling his shot for a specific run play to defensive tackle Derrick Brown asking for more reps and making them pay off.

"I love the challenge as coaches," Canales said. "And I told them I'm gonna call this early, so you better do something with it, and that's for Rico, that's for the quarterback, that's for the defensive guys asking for opportunities. Derrick asked for more pass-rush opportunities, and he got a sack early on with that.

"And so I think that when the players put themselves out there and make themselves vulnerable, then we get to push it and we get to say, OK, well show me something. Do it, do something with it, and just by the way that Rico hit that run with aggression, it was his play, which means something. And that's the, that's the approach that these guys have to take with all of it. This is your offense. This is your defense. This is your special teams unit. Can we have the pride to bring that type of energy? Can it matter that much for you, but it was a really cool one."

With Brown in particular, having more opportunities fell in line with his old pattern of playing nearly every snap. He was at 90 percent of the snaps in 2023 when he went to the Pro Bowl, but he has played around 70 percent this year. Part of that's a function of having more qualified players around him, so he doesn't have to play every snap, but also they wanted to be judicious with his workload, as he came off last year's knee injury that ended his season after one game. He played 82 percent of the snaps in Sunday's win (45 total of the team's 55).

"We ramped his play time up; he was playing 70 percent of the snaps," Canales said. "He's feeling good and he asked us, and so we gave him a few more opportunities to be out there in some rush downs and some different things, but he's been responding really well and he's working tirelessly to make sure, you know, that he's physically ready to handle whatever you throw at him."

But more than any individual plays, it's the conversations that Canales likes to see. Referring to an interaction between Brown and quarterback Bryce, in which Young looked at Brown coming off the field early and said, "Go get it back for me and we'll go," Canales said that moves the team closer to his goal of being player-led.

"I'm always trying to read our body language; how are we doing so I can check in with guys and just be a presence so we can refocus," Canales said. "Whether it's from a big drive in a positive way or whether we go out there with some adversity to make sure we have the right focus, the right mentality.

"To hear our leaders talking together across the ball, that's what it takes. It doesn't matter how you end up in this situation, can you go out and execute one more time, can you keep your focus on your side while also being able to connect with us, we believe we can get this done, so I love to hear that they're talking together. The belief is there."

That also extends to meeting with Young, and other position groups weekly to talk about their favorite plays in certain situations, as they learn each other's preferences, and build the trust they need.

Technique leading to fewer penalties for Panthers

The Panthers have hammered home technique and proper execution in recent weeks, and it's paying off on the field. Carolina is one of the least penalized teams in the NFL through five weeks, and it all comes down to those small details being right, according to Canales.

"I believe it's the pre-snap process on both, really in all phases," the coach explained Monday. "When you're in good position, usually you don't have fouls. When you're in great position in the secondary, it usually doesn't, it doesn't lead to a foul because you can play the ball well. When you're blocking on the perimeter, the offensive line, if you're running your feet, you typically avoid holding calls because you have good technique.

"So it's about these guys' commitment, our players' commitment to playing with great technique and great leverage that allows us to play football."

The Panthers have had 30 total fouls called against them, which is sixth-lowest in the league, with 42 calls benefiting them. The 12-call differential is the second-best in the NFL. Every coach talks about penalties being a changing and deciding factor in a game, but with a positive differential, Canales can really show his team how it has worked in their favor at times.

In Sunday's win against the Dolphins, the Panthers' offense picked up six first downs off penalties, including the game-clinching defensive pass-interference call drawn by veteran Hunter Renfrow.

There are still areas to fix, Canales pointed out. With a young team, guys are still learning when and where they need to be on the field. So far, Canales has been able to cover up some potential flags with timeouts. That is now the focus: to eliminate those mental mistakes that can lead to fouls as well.

"We were sloppy in ways offensively," Canales admitted. "We had 12 men, I had to take a time out on defense and special teams. We have two different times where we didn't have the right people or enough people out there. Those are the things that we have to clean up. We're covering it up with time-outs and those things.

"It just throws the momentum off, and we have—it creates a refocused moment for us where we have to settle back in to go."

Still, with one of the best marks in the league through five weeks, the Panthers have found an edge by playing clean football.

Said Canales, "I think it's a commitment for guys to just play with great effort, play with great technique."

Smart adjustments led to shutting down Waller

Dolphins' tight end Darren Waller, in only his second game this season on Sunday, looked ready to continue the domination he established in his 2025 debut. Through the first half, the veteran pass-catcher hauled in five passes for 78 yards and a touchdown, putting the Panthers' defense in a blender at times.

"When you look at a couple of his big plays, it was a communication thing on the back half, and then it was just a technique thing where we had two players in phase, you know, Jaycee Horn was kind of low, we had safety over the top. (Waller) ran a great route and Tua (Tagovailoa) had enough time to hit the second one that went for about 17 or 18 yards," explained Canales of the missteps in the first half.

"The big one, we just need to communicate and make sure we were understanding and locating where he was at in the formation to be able to execute that."

But, as was the case for all aspects of the Panthers on Sunday in a 27-24 comeback win, the defense stayed calm and adjusted accordingly.

"They talked through it, they fixed it, and then we rushed better, and that combination kind of led to the success in the second half," praised Canales.

The changes worked. Waller had no catches in the second half. For that matter, he had no targets either as Ejiro Evero's group took him out of the game plan. And it started up front.

"First and foremost, it was the pass rush continuing to build through the second half," said Canales. The group finished the game with three sacks, three quarterback hurries, and nine tackles for loss.

"We got better opportunities to affect the quarterback, which forced the ball out, to come out earlier," explained Canales. "It was just simple execution."

On the field, linebacker Christian Rozeboom felt the shift as well. As the front got into the backfield more, picking up tackles for loss and rushing Tagovailoa into quicker throws, their job became easier on Waller.

"We got after the quarterback," Rozeboom said. "But obviously the rushing aspect of it, getting them behind the sticks and really knowing what the situation was, and we were calling what we want to call versus second-and-long, third-and-long, it's really an advantage to the defense for sure."

Runs look right

The Panthers were able to run the ball at will against the Dolphins, wherever they wanted on the field. Rico Dowdle finished with 206 rushing yards and 234 all-purpose yards. But it was the right side of the field where Carolina really found success.

According to Next Gen Stats, on 13 carries to the right side of the formation, Dowdle gained 171 yards, the most yards running to the right side in any game since Week 17, 2020, when Derrick Henry ran for 174 yards.

This was the first week the Panthers have put out their new starting offensive line, following injuries, with Brady Christensen at right guard. It allowed the Panthers to use his physicality and take advantage.

"There were some front-side match-up stuff for us," Canales explained. "I think Brady gives us an opportunity to be really fast and displace the front side, and then partly it was just what hash we ended on and what run we were going to, which kind of put us in that spot.

"It wasn't really until a couple of series where we realized we were getting a lot of positive results over there on the front side. It does put stress on your backside, but Damien Lewis is really stout there, and Ickey is a fantastic athlete so that he can cut things off, from that standpoint, but a lot of that ended up just being the way it played out."

On the field, Christensen said he didn't even notice there were that many carries going to the right. It was just a matter of making sure Dowdle was comfortable taking the ball wherever he wanted to go.

"I think the game plan was we wanted to run the rock with Rico, and I don't know if we had a specific side we wanted to, but things got started kind of working and you gotta stick with what's working type of thing," Christensen said.

"Cade Mays, (me) and Taylor Moton all just blocking our asses off and trying to have a good pad level and good physicality and ended up working out."