CHARLOTTE — Never use five words when four will do, and don't repeat questions when the answer is already known. That's the philosophy the Panthers offense is taking this week. It's called "brevity of communication" and it's the first thing the Panthers challenged the offense with as preparations began for Arizona.

"That's the first thing we did this week is challenge guys," explained offensive coordinator Brad Idzik on Thursday. "Just talking about being urgent into and out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage so we can start to digest information as soon as possible, getting looks in the run game, getting our points right and getting the communication echoed out up front."

There are only so many seconds on a play clock, 40 to be exact, so an offensive play caller and coach has a limited amount o time to decide on a play call, get it in to the quarterback, let him call it in the huddle, and the offense get to the line. The Panthers know they were too slow too many times on Sunday against the Jaguars, breaking the huddle too deep into the clock.

"That's something that we want to get better at, so we'll be attacking that this week," Dave Canales said Monday.

That began in earnest on Wednesday during practice and will be circled back to all week as the Panthers look to eliminate any superfluous communication.

"Brevity of communication. So, coupling the tempo of getting in and out of the huddle, the tempo of getting the play called is not adding fluff in our communication," Idzik continued. "So, that kind of couples with the trust that your teammates know what they're doing, so it's all kind of tied in together, but really urgency and and brevity, were the two kind of themes of our pre-snap stuff to just make sure that we're getting to the line, we're clear in our communication, and then we're trusting each other to do the right thing."

The trust is a crucial aspect to thinning down communication on game day. From the moment the play call is given in the huddle, to guys lining up in the right spot, to everyone doing their job when the ball is snapped, communication—and therefore time—can be spared if players aren't questioning what is going on around them.

"The play calls really haven't changed, you know, the length of the play calls in the NFL, I think on every team that you're going to have some checks and balances when you have a play call, but as far as when you're communicating at the line of scrimmage and you're using our vocabulary…it's really just being clear with how you communicate that," said Idzik.

"You're keeping guys in the wheelhouse of things that we've practiced as far as using vocabulary, so you have all these guys that have played on multiple teams and have called routes different things, have called combos different things up front, but the repetition that we've gotten all spring, all last year, going into this year with training camp is just rely on trusting our technique, trusting our the the vocabulary and the brevity of communication that we presented to you and just rolling it out on game day knowing your teammate next to you is going to have your back."

Ejiro Evero pointed to improved tackling in second half

Panthers head coach Dave Canales mentioned that he loved seeing defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero put his guys through a round of fundamental tackling drills in their non-padded practice on Wednesday.

There was a reason for that, after a few missed tackles contributed to big plays by the Jaguars in the first half, including a 71-yard run by Travis Etienne.

"Well, the one thing that was very encouraging about the last game is that we tackled a lot better in the second half than we did in the first half," Evero said. "So I'm excited about what we're going to do this week.

"I know we're going to tackle better, I feel like we're going to play better, and yeah, I certainly think that you can make strides in one week."

To Evero's point, the Jaguars gained 262 of their 378 total yards in the first half, and 134 of their 200 rushing yards.

But even when you take out the explosive run by Etienne, they averaged 5.25 yards per carry in the first half, and 3.47 per carry in the second half.

Rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald impressed in opener

If Ryan Fitzgerald had been nervous on Sunday, it would have been expected. He's a rookie, playing in his first NFL game, with the pressure and attention that comes with such a role. Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith thought Fitzgerald might be anxious. But when he approached his young kicker ahead of kickoff, he found someone completely calm.

"Maybe it helped him being close to home, but, he seemed very comfortable the entire day. It was a weird one, you know, from being there, the long delay, the lightning thing, the weather changing pretty dramatically from when we first walked out there and you felt like you were on the sun and then when we left when it was kind of like a breezy, maybe not rain the whole time, and he was pretty smooth," Smith said.

"I checked in with him several times throughout the game and, just kind of felt like a a normal kicker to me, which is a good thing."

Fitzgerald, from Colquitt County, Georgia, was near home for his first game, something that may have contributed to his calmness, according to Smith. That is partly why the Panthers felt comfortable trotting Fitzgerald out during the first quarter for a 48-yard field goal for his first regular season kick.

There was a chance later on to kick a 57-yarder, but the Panthers elected to punt instead. Smith explained Thursday that decision had less to do with Fitzgerald's range, and more to do with the flow of the game.

"He was available from that distance and a little bit farther," Smith said. "In that particular game, with the clock running down, if you miss a field goal—which is not a layup at that distance for anybody on the planet—then you're kind of putting the Jaguars in really good position right before the half.

"They had struggled up to that point to move the ball outside of the one right after the turnover, so it felt like there's an opportunity for us to make a play on punt. That's part of our execution too, you know, it's not just saying, we can't make this field goal, but it's also can we execute this punt and that was part of the math on that whole one."

As the Panthers travel to different stadiums and test Fitzgerald's comfort in different situations, that number will be fluid week-to-week.

"That is straight up game situation, weather conditions apply and then where we're at. It's also the direction you're going on that particular field, that direction," Smith said. "Arizona we have the roof closed, we'll see where we're at on that one, as far as where where he's good from; but, that is going to be different at Green Bay. That'll be different at San Francisco, that'll be different at home on certain occasions when the winds right to left, left to right, hard, soft, you know, whatever those things are, but it is ever changing."