CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales often says the passing offense generally has a focal point as it develops, and that's been rookie Tetairoa McMillan.

But over the last month, they're also getting more and more contributions from second-year wideout Jalen Coker.

Coker had a strong finish to a rookie season that began on the practice squad, finishing with 32 catches for 478 yards and two touchdowns. But a quad injury early this year, just as he was about to step into the starting lineup after the trade of Adam Thielen, led to a slow start.

After missing the first six games, Coker had just seven catches for 66 yards in his next four.

But over the last four, he's posted 15 catches for 218 yards and two touchdowns, including scores each of the last two weeks against the Rams and Saints.

Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said Coker's been one of their most improved players over the course of the last two seasons, and the production is showing.

"He's just the model of consistency right now," Idzik said Thursday. "He's just doing a great job of, versus zone, versus man after the catch, someone you can rely on. So for us, it's just another puzzle piece where you can put him in different spots and he knows what to do. And that comes with, really, a lot of investment in his first year.

"I think he'd be the first to admit, as a rookie, that he struggled early on to grasp the full playbook, and anytime you're thinking as a receiver, you're not playing fast. Well, that's just not the case anymore. It wasn't the case toward the latter half of last year going into the offseason and this year. So, once he got his legs back, and he overcame kind of the hiccup of his injury, you just saw the same guy who's now confident and attacking everything he does, and we get to place him, and that's fun."

Jalen Coker's climbing the charts

With so much attention on McMillan, having that complementary target helps open a lot of things up, and Coker's ability to get downfield (14.9 yards per catch last year) adds an element to the offense.

And Idzik said his familiarity with the offense has created those opportunities, since Coker's able to play more instinctively now.

He's done a phenomenal job of just owning the playbook stuff," Idzik said. "So he can play fast, and that shows up; it's shown up the last couple of weeks."

A steady presence at punter

In typical Tracy Smith fashion, his weekly press conference quickly spun into a secondary conversation that had nothing to do with football—this week, it was favorite Christmas movies —and the special teams coordinator said his family's favorite was 'The Preacher's Wife,' the Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston classic. But the fact Smith's weekly media availability finds itself in different topics is often indicative of his special teams unit; the group is playing solid, week to week, there are few mistakes, and even fewer concerns. Every part of them has been steady.

Nowhere is that more obvious than at punter.

"I think that's a good way to put it," Smith answered to the idea that he doesn't have to worry about Sam Martin from day to day.

"He's kind of faded into the background because he does his job so reliably well and consistently over and over again. We haven't asked about him because there hasn't been a Sam disaster punting week or one where he hit the scoreboard somewhere."

Hitting the scoreboard is possible in Dallas, Smith clarified as a quick aside. But back to Martin, who is averaging 47.4 yards per punt, has landed an eighth-best 22 inside the 20-yard line, and has forced 11 fair catches.

His numbers might not be at the top of the league, but don't reflect where the Panthers always are on the field, where they want to put the ball for certain returners, hang-time, directional punting, and any number of things that the 35-year-old veteran punter has just handled without fanfare or issue.

"He's just kind of, he's been real smooth. He's a calming factor for the other guys," Smith continued. "He cares a lot about his job, but he just goes to work, and he's not making waves in all the best ways for a specialist."

No word, though, on what his favorite holiday movie might be.

Defense knows they need variety in certain areas

The Panthers have turned their attention completely to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but there are still valuable lessons to be learned from Sunday's loss to the Saints.

"We were playing a really, really good game up to those last two series," defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said Thursday, echoing what Dave Canales and players had been saying all week.

Those last two drives, when the Saints went up-tempo, allowed New Orleans to score a game-tying touchdown, then a game-winning field goal, as Tyler Shough and Chris Olave picked apart soft parts in the defense. It was a humbling reminder that opposing offenses will target specific areas.

"You always have to go into the game in mind that the things that you do best and the things that you feature the most, that's what they're going to be most prepared for," Evero said.

"So it really never should never be a surprise that you're getting attacked with the things that you do well and the things you put on tape that more often than not. And so, when those things happen, you obviously have to have change-ups, and our defense has to have enough variety and variation where, hey, if people want to go to these beaters for this coverage, then you have something to play off of.

"It's always that chess game with the opposing offensive coordinator or play caller, but, yeah, that's what we try to do."

The test, or chess match, won't get any easier this weekend when Carolina faces Tampa Bay for the first of two meetings in three weeks. After a string of injuries that dragged through much of the season, Baker Mayfield has his full contingent of offensive weapons back on the field, from Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to rookies Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson.

As Evero and staff prepare, they look back on that Saints performance, particularly the last two drives, to make sure the same mistakes don't happen twice.

"I would say that there's certainly some areas that we could have been more connected in the second half," admitted Evero.

"Some of those things I can certainly do a better job at in terms of coaching, and in some of these areas that we know we could execute better as players, but it's one of those things you could be off just a little bit here or there, and it can make a big difference, especially in those critical moments."