CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales is well aware of the scenarios and what can happen this weekend.

That does not mean he's spending any time thinking about it while those scenarios are unfolding.

The Panthers host the Seahawks on Sunday at 1 p.m. At the same time, the Buccaneers are visiting the Dolphins. If the Panthers win and the Bucs lose, they could clinch the NFC South title this week.

(You can see all the scenarios here. Except you, Dave. You've got a job to do.)

But when Canales was asked if he'd be monitoring the score of the Bucs-Dolphins game, his answer was quick and clear.

"I will not," he replied. "We can't approach it that way. We have to make sure, especially for us — I appreciate the question — but as we're trying to create consistency in our product of what we do on the field, game in and game out, that's what we're after, and that's what's out there for us to find our best football.

"We have to approach it that way, and we have to make sure that we approach this game plan that way as the game continues to go however it goes. It's like, I'm trying to win this down. I'm trying to win this series right here, and we all have to be locked in there. We can't afford to do that in the place that we're in, collectively as a team. We have to continue to find consistent football."

There was a little more nuance to a discussion of how they'd deploy personnel if the game got out of hand. Even with a loss to the Seahawks, the Panthers can clinch the division next week with a win at Tampa Bay, so the obvious question was whether he'd consider parking players if the score dictated it wasn't feasible to win.

"I don't envision us doing that," Canales said. "That's a conversation that Dan (Morgan) and I have to have philosophically about how we're approaching this. But, again, I think it kind of goes back to answering it the same way. All these reps are so valuable, every series, as we continue to grow together as a team. Every series matters as we're trying to develop our schemes and our concepts and make sure that we go into each week with that. And then so that we can learn the lessons so that we can take the next step when the Bucs week comes on, but we have to all of our focus has to be right here, right now on the Seahawks."

Bucs avoided Jaycee Horn the entire game

Jaycee Horn has positioned himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL this season. He is tied for second in the league with five interceptions, and he has eight passes defended. So it's no surprise that teams want to avoid him on the field, not giving him a chance to make a play on the ball.

According to Next Gen Stats, Horn wasn't targeted once on 29 coverage snaps Sunday. The Bucs didn't test the Pro Bowler all day, save once when he drew a defensive pass interference call on a play against Mike Evans in the end zone. The flag negated the play on the stat sheet.

To avoid a player for an entire game is almost impossible, Dave Canales explained, drawing from his experience as the Panthers' play caller.

"It's very challenging, and sometimes you're looking for the next best opportunity to try to take your targets, but there are certain looks where the ball's got to go there.

"At least, speaking for us, I'm going to ask my guys to make plays even when we face some pretty good corners out there."

Horn started on the line of scrimmage more Sunday than he has all year, forcing the Bucs to contend directly with where he was in relation to who they wanted to target.

"They do a lot of—they're a big 3-by-1 team, so yeah, just having more opportunity," Horn said of the decision to move him closer to the line.

"I didn't really get a lot of work to really be able to tell (if it paid off), but yeah, I mean, it was cool," Horn laughed.

Granted, his simple presence there arguably led to the little work. For the Bucs to avoid Horn the entire game is a testament to his impact. He also made his presence known in other ways, such as a touchdown-saving tackle in the red zone.

"For Jaycee, I saw him just, really just challenging things on a down in and down out basis," Canales bragged. "He should feel that confidence; he's long, he's fast, he's aggressive, he's got a great mind, a competitive mind where he understands concepts and things that are happening, and I loved watching him in the aggressive style that he played with yesterday."

Avoiding Horn also meant the Bucs had to throw towards Mike Jackson more. He finished with three passes defended, bringing his season total to 17, which is tied for the lead in the NFL.

Injury updates heading down the stretch

When Bryce Young's ankle was stepped on by right guard Austin Corbett on Sunday, it caused the quarterback to trip, and everyone's heart to jump into their throat. Young was able to shake it off quickly and still move around well the rest of the day. Dave Canales told reporters on Monday that Young's ankle was fine and the plan was for him to fully practice this week.

But it was the second time this season something like this has happened, meaning Canales, Young, and crew are taking a closer look at how it unfolded and, more importantly, how it can be avoided. After studying the tape from the Bucs game, the coach sees an issue that can be avoided with some easy tweaks.

"Just the timing of it, we're a little tight there," Canales explained. "You can't drop-step when you're on the offensive line. In those situations, you've got to be firm at the line of scrimmage, and then, I think also, Bryce just coming away from the center on some of the play actions can get a little bit more depth on the first step.

"So it's a little bit of a combination of both things, but it's something we certainly can't have, and it really just starts up front by neutralizing the line of scrimmage so we get the play started."

Long-term, the Panthers are weighing the possibility of opening Robert Hunt's 21-day window this week. The offensive guard has been sidelined since Week 2 with a biceps injury. Initially, it was feared to be season-ending, but Hunt has made significant progress in his rehab, allowing the possibility of a return.

"We're really excited. He's making progress," Canales said in an update on Monday. "That's a real possibility for this week, to see if we can get him out there in a capacity to do some individual drills, to start leaning on people."

The Panthers have two more regular-season games and a chance at the playoffs on the horizon. Knowing the importance and, now, the likelihood of the latter will weigh into the decision. Once Hunt's window is open, the Panthers have 21 days to activate him to the active roster. If his window is, in fact, opened this week, that would give Carolina the full three weeks to activate him right before playoff prep began.

"He's worked his way into that area, and I know we've been talking about this for weeks on end. That's something that we're really excited about potentially doing this week," Canales finished. "We're not 100 percent sure, but we're going to have to make that decision here in the next couple of days."

Still confident in XL

With veteran wideout David Moore getting a week of practice under his belt last week, Canales was asked if his return could change their receiver rotations.

Specifically, he was asked if Moore could chew into Xavier Legette's snaps, after the second-year receiver had a drop yesterday and another play on which he didn't get a foot in bounds along the sideline.

"No, he's not," Canales replied when asked if Legette was in danger of losing reps. "X is a guy that I love. He works his tail off. He would love to have those plays back. I'm sure he'd be up here telling you that for sure.

"He's a guy we're going to continue to trust that he's going to work through this. In this one game, he didn't come up with the opportunities that he had. But I trust he'll get right back to work. He'll be a part of our game plan this week as well."