FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Panthers have done some good things on defense this year, but they don't want them to be one-off congratulations.

Last week's shutout against the Falcons was good, but it followed giving up 27 the week before. There are conditions to all this, of course, but for cornerback Jaycee Horn and the leaders of this defense, it boils down to one thing.

"Very important to stack wins," he said. "You've got an opportunity to go out there on Sundays and compete. You want to do it at a high level, and we haven't been doing that over the years consistently. So we're going to try to do it consistently and stack wins this year, . . .

"Now you want to replicate that next week, but it don't mean just because you had a shutout that they're going to walk out there and we're going to have another dominating performance on defense. We've got to earn it, and you earn it during the week."

Even with last year's encouraging second half, the Panthers haven't put together back-to-back wins since Week 8 and 9 of 2024, and prior to that was in Week 12 and 14 (separated by the bye week) in 2022. So you can see the importance of it on Horn's face when he talks about it, as they're trying to change things around here.

That 2022 defense was very different than the two years that followed, but this year's has been steadily making progress.

You can see signs of it in a few stats. They're 21st in the league in yards allowed, but eighth in points allowed (a shutout in the first three weeks helps that stat immensely). They're 15th in the league in third-down conversions allowed (38.2 percent) after opponents converted over half of them last year.

They're taking it away, with five turnovers created in three games, tied for fourth in the league.

"I think for us it's just being consistent," defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. "I mean, we had a few weeks now, we had takeaways, so we like to just be able to keep that going. . . .

"Like I said, man, it's a week-to-week league, right? You get a shutout one week, they'll love you, you get your a-- whooped the next week, they don't want nothing to do with you. So you know that's just how it goes, and I think that's the mindset we got. We want to keep this, we want to keep this group together, keep everybody's head in the building. We don't want to worry about what's going on outside or any of that.

"So I mean a big thing for us was to watch it, not take the fool's gold on the win and then be able to come back in here and get ready to go again."

The fact that such similar messages are coming from the two leaders on that side of the ball is no coincidence. The Panthers want this to become something lasting, so hearing them emphasize being able to string together consecutive quality performances is something that's been talked about all offseason.

And that's music to head coach Dave Canales' ears.

"It's communication first and foremost," Canales replied when asked about being able to become more consistent. "It's effort, it's focus, it's details. It's in the meeting rooms. It's at the walkthroughs, communicating with each other, diagnosing the formations, what plays do they run out of this personnel in these formations?

"And being really locked in play after play, but a lot of that is just time on task, playing with each other, learning how to trust each other and play off of each other with their assignments."

To the point of each week being its own unique animal, the Panthers will have a different look today.

They're hoping to get Tershawn Wharton back on the field in some capacity this week, after one of their priority free agent has been out since Week 1 with a hamstring injury. But they're also without starting outside linebackers D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones II, meaning they'll be relying on rookies Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen today, along with DJ Johnson.

It's an example of why it's a new thing every week.

That's why Brown just laughed when he was asked how important it was to learn to string together consistent performances — and wins.

"I'll let you know Sunday," he replied.