CHARLOTTE — Tershawn Wharton began toying with the idea before practice last Thursday, weighing his role and the Panthers' defensive expectations against the reality through four games. By the time practice was over, he decided something had to be said.

So he drew together everyone that plays along the line, from himself, Derrick Brown, and A'Shawn Robinson, to D.J. Wonnum, Patrick Jones II, and everyone else in the defensive line and pass-rush unit. At that point in the week, Wharton knew his toe injury would keep him sidelined against the Miami Dolphins. But he also knew the Panthers brought him to Charlotte to be a leader on this defense, and that also meant off the field.

"I think just understanding that sometimes things got to be said and just me being me, I feel like that it would help," Wharton said.

For that matter, he knew everyone standing in front of him in that late Thursday afternoon exchange was brought in this season to improve the Panthers' pass rush, which ended the 2024 season tied for 29th in the league, with 32 total sacks.

But through two games, the production had been beyond lacking.

And it was time to address it.

"We had two sacks in the first four games," stated Robinson, "which is unacceptable from the defense."

It wasn't a secret that the Panthers, who were at the bottom of the league with those two sacks, were having trouble getting to the quarterback. There had been pressure and hurries, which helped, and Wonnum had a tackle for loss on Kyler Murray in Week 2 that wasn't counted as a sack since Murray was considered a runner. Still, the numbers were nowhere near what Wharton knew they could be.

"First few weeks, we weren't getting too much pressure that we would like," explained Wharton. "So just to get each other on the same page and rush as one. Coach gives us a lot of leeway to go ahead and call four-man rushes, and I just think that we have a lot of potential in that room and we should live up to it."

Wharton issued the challenge, echoed by guys like Robinson and Brown. It resonated across the unit, and particularly with rookies like Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, who were finishing the first quarter of their NFL rookie season.

"We really emphasized trying to get to the quarterback because we thought our production, as far as sacks-wise, was embarrassing," admitted Umanmielen.

"So we came together, we seen that we had to stop being so stagnant, we can't be scared. It's the NFL. Quarterbacks are going to get out of the pocket sometimes, so we can't rush scared, only go power because we think a dude's going to break the pocket."

This is a defense that, through the first part of the season, had improved in almost every other category. It is also a defense that added a ton of new pieces this offseason. Growing pains were and are expected. But so was production.

"It's just understanding of where we were, where we can head to if we all work together as a group," explained Wharton of the primary message.

And on Sunday, against the Dolphins, the challenge was accepted.

The group sacked quarterback Tua Tagovailoa three times, surpassing their entire total from the first four games in one afternoon. Robinson, Brown, and Jones II had one each.

"I feel like, as a front seven unit, we definitely played more free," praised Umanmielen. "And you can see that from the production."

Coach Dave Canales has long talked about letting his team find their own identity, not forcing them to adopt his personality, but rather to establish their own, so as to feel accountable and responsible for every part of the program. Player-issued challenges like that of last week's, demanding more from themselves when it comes to getting after the quarterback, are a perfect example of why the approach works, according to Umanmielen.

"It's amazing, because coach Canales, he really tells, he tells us a lot that this is our team and that we're the ones who run the team, and that's 100% true because if we're driving, if our effort and our drive coming from the coaches, then you're not going to be a good team. It has to come from within the guys that are on the field fighting for that rush."

The fight won't get any easier this coming Sunday. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has only been sacked seven times through five games, a 3.4 percent sack rate on 208 drop-backs, which is the fifth-lowest rate in the league (minimum 100 drop-backs). He makes teams pay for not getting him down; his 1,356 yards through five games are the second-highest in the league.

The challenge this week now becomes, "making sure we can communicate our games, be on the same page on the rush lanes, said Robinson. "And when we're straight and doing what we need to do, making sure that we're on the same page and knowing exactly what's going to be the weakness if we do these things or we do that, and knowing what we can counter to keep that from happening."

If Sunday against the Dolphins was any indication, the challenge to each other to find more sacks was accepted in the best way. Now comes the next challenge: building on them.

"I think we're just going to keep stacking them," said Wharton, "and keep going."