CHARLOTTE — Just because the Panthers don't hear from Damien Lewis a lot doesn't mean they don't feel his impact.

And that's on the field and in the meeting room.

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, who was on the Seahawks staff when they drafted Lewis in 2020, praised both sides of the left guard's game.

"D-Lew is phenomenal; Like his strength is ridiculous," Idzik said. "If you try to give him a look on scout team, you'll figure it out right away, that his half-punch is a full-punch for many others, but then also just you watch him pull, you watch him move, his redirect and pass pro. For a guy his size, and his anchor as well, coupling with that strength. So the athlete, he's got everything you'd want, to, to be a phenomenal guard.

"And then the quiet confidence. It's something that you go all the way back to his rookie year, he comes off as a quiet guy, but when he speaks, it opens up the world to see like this guy is smart."

Idzik said when he was in Seattle, he'd go through rookie meetings with new players to see where they were in terms of understanding their concepts as they related to the language the Seahawks used. And when he started talking ball with Lewis, he found out in a hurry that Lewis understood at a high level, walking in the door.

"You go through the draft process, and you have them talk about their own offense, and this guy just oozes football knowledge," Idzik said. "So, you can't let the quiet demeanor in the hallway kind of distract you from the intelligence he has upstairs.

"So you couple that whole thing together and you got a really good player, and then knock on wood, his durability for us has been great, been something that he takes pride in. He's got everybody working for him to make sure he gets the game week too. . . . I know the other ones have been in and out, all working to stay healthy, but D-Lew's been the model of consistency that way, and it's just always good to look over on the left side and see 68 there."

Throughout a year of shuffling on the offensive line (10 combinations of starters in the first 13 games), Lewis has been a near-constant.

He missed the Jets game with a shoulder injury, but has otherwise been on the field and performed.

He has a top-10 overall number among guards in the Pro Football Focus grades, and is fifth in the league in pass-blocking grades.

Defense looking for bounce back in New Orleans after Week 10 loss

When the Panthers faced the Saints back in Week 10, coming off a huge win in Green Bay and facing an—at the time—one-win team, a lot of things went wrong.

"We didn't play our best that day," admitted defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero on Thursday, looking back at that 17-7 loss five weeks ago.

"I think the common theme is that we just need to execute better. I would say in certain instances—I don't want to divulge the game plan too much, but I can certainly do a better job in terms of creating clarity with some of the things we were doing schematically, but, yeah, we all got to be better from that standpoint."

In that game, the Panthers gave up six explosive passing plays to the Saints and three explosive run plays. It was the first game New Orleans had played without Rashid Shaheed, and only their second with starting quarterback Tyler Shough. So much was unknown about the offense at that point, and Carolina paid the price.

It gave Evero a lot of tape off which to work when preparing for this week, specifically when it came to Shough.

"The biggest thing that we learned is just (his) ability to keep plays alive. He made a handful of plays against us where he got out of the pocket and made a play down the field, a couple of those big plays.

"I think that's the biggest takeaway is, like we knew the arm talent, that kind of jumps off the tape, obviously he was highly thought of to be drafted where he was, but it's just the ability to kind of keep plays alive and that innate scrambling ability and even when they run the quarterback run plays, those are the things that, I think we've learned about him."

With Shough's progression, Evero has seen an opposing offense grow around him in a short time.

"What I would say is that this team has kind of found their identity. They played tough on defense and then on the offensive side of the ball they're committed to run the ball, they've involved the quarterback in the run game, they have featured guys in the pass game like (Chris) Olave and Mr. (Juwan) Johnson that they're trying to get the ball to, and, they're really buying into the physical part of the game. I think that's going to be the big challenge on Sunday."

Little tape but big opportunities when scouting Saints kicker

This time of year, teams face many similar opponents. Division games make up the back half of the year, and it's not uncommon to face a team multiple times in a short span. But even then, changes can still occur. That's the balance Panthers special teams coordinator Tracy Smith is dealing with this week as he game plans for the New Orleans Saints on special teams.

"There's a comfort level for sure playing them so frequently," Smith said Thursday. "That happens on division games if you get them, almost back to back, or within the case of a month and a half.

"The Saints are essentially the same team now. There are some differences. Playing with a new kicker, as you saw, than we played last time."

The new kicker is Charlie Smyth, an Irish product that came through the International Player Pathway Program and has been with the Saints for two years. But he has only kicked in two games. His first saw him knock through a 50-plus yard field goal and successfully convert an onside kick. In his second game, he went 1-2 on field goals.

Smyth has also been handling kickoffs, where much of the scouting is done, but with only two games from which to draw, Tracy Smith has gotten creative.

"I did not watch his Gaelic football highlights this year," Smith joked. It's not an unheard of tactic, considering Smyth played goalkeeper in the sport, the position that kicks the ball back into play.

"That's the guys that had the most success," Smith explained, "and Charlie's one of the younger guys that has been in the program, to actually make it through. So, he was kind of highly recruited at the time that he was coming out because of his age and his prior status."

More than anything, though, the coach is relying on his previous interactions with the kicker.

"I talked to Charlie several times because that program kind of puts us in contact with those guys quite a bit, and he's been practicing for a year and a half, two years, so he doesn't have game kicks. He just has the two games plus the six preseason opportunities. So there's a little bit.

"But I got to see him, I've got to know him through some of the scouting stuff that the NFL lets us do with the international guys, and he's done a nice job so far."

Through the two games, Smyth is 2-for-3 on field goals, the onside kick, has three touchbacks on kickoffs, and is averaging 51 yards on kickoffs.

"So all we can go on is his most recent opportunities—which is the same as you would for even a kicker who's been around for a long time—and see how he does indoors. Haven't seen him in the dome yet, so that'll be kind of exciting."