CHARLOTTE — It's all about the ball. The phrase is displayed on walls through the Panthers' facility, hammered home in every meeting, and preached as a motto. It's meant to drive home the point that has shaped Dave Canales' approach to building his team: teams that control the turnover margin win the game 70 percent of the time or more.

The Panthers are 1-0 in games in which they've won the turnover margin this season, and the offense hasn't turned it over at all the last two weeks. But the offense will likely be tested in that area today against Miami.

This Dolphins defense likes to punch at the ball, a tactic that paid off in their first win of the season against the Jets last week, when the defense forced and recovered three fumbles. That tape has helped reiterate the Panthers' motto this week, from top to bottom.

"That's our main philosophy here, it's all about the ball, taking care of it," said running back Rico Dowdle. "We've been able to do that well on the offensive side of the ball the past two weeks. So, that's one of the main focus points that we always focus on. They take jabs, it's all about locking it up and protecting the football."

As a rusher, Dowdle's ball security will focus on locking in the carry in his elbow, not allowing wiggle room for a "Peanut Punch" should a defender get a touch on the ball. For a receiver, like Tetairoa McMillan, the focus is on not letting the Dolphins' defensive backs ever even get their hands on the ball.

"That's a big emphasis just in our room and on the team, you know, everything's about the ball, you know, whether they punch at it or not, we got to make sure that if we see ball, we get ball," shared McMillan. "Nobody else, especially in the room, nobody else gets it but us."

In an effort to be "all about the ball," the Panthers emphasize turnovers each Thursday in practice. If the defense gets a turnover, then next week's practice will be labeled "Turnover Thursday." If the offense protects the ball, the following week is dubbed "No Turnover Thursday."

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik was careful not to put too much weight behind any additional emphasis on the factor, mainly because the team stresses it regardless, but also a little bit because of fear of wrath from special teams assistant coach Daren Bates, who leads the Turnover Thursday portion of meetings.

"Daren Bates would, he would hate me if I said we had to up it this week because he is our guy emphasizing going after the ball," joked Idzik. "Bates gives us a really nice recap every Thursday morning, so I would say that's a huge piece of who we are."

Those sessions in meetings and portions of practice might have looked the same this week as they do every week. But when facing a defense like the Dolphins, who poke at the ball all game, some payoffs come with the focused work. Those practices were crafted with games like today in mind.

"It's all about the ball is a big mantra in our building, and the guys on defense make us better because they emphasize it on defense," praised Idzik. "They're always scrapping after the ball. You think of even young guys coming in, Lathan Ransom, bringing in new guys like Tre'von Moehrig coming in that always attacking the ball, Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, they're just, they're wired that way, and that makes us better on offense.

"Anytime (the offense will) relax or they don't play through the echo of the whistle, those guys are hunting, and I think that prepares us for games like this where you got, you know, DBs punching the ball out.

"It prepares us for games like this where guys are going after it."