CHARLOTTE — When Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn was asked on Friday how he was feeling, the one-word answer was "Good."

That's good news for Horn and the Panthers as a whole.

The Pro Bowl cornerback cleared the concussion protocol on Friday and is ready to play in Sunday's game against the Saints — a game that carries a lot of meaning for the playoff chase.

Horn has been in the protocol since taking a knee to the helmet early in the loss at San Francisco, and he missed the game against the Rams prior to the bye week.

But now he's back, and bringing his same perspective to a team that is in a new situation. He's one of the few players who remember the last real playoff push in 2022, but insists on keeping things the same as they've been all year.

"We just focus on going 1-and-0 every week, you know what I'm saying?" Horn said with a shrug on Friday when asked about the position they're in. "We've still got to handle our business at the end of the day.

"It's just, it's a blessing to be able to be playing meaningful football at this point in the year. But you know, like I said, we've still got to focus on going 1-and-0 every week or every day, really just winning their day."

Horn's having his most statistically productive season, which has a lot to do with leading the fan vote for this year's Pro Bowl. But with a career-high five interceptions this season, he's adding to his game.

"Yeah, it's attention to detail," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said when asked to explain the uptick in stats. "And it's really, this is attributed to his study habits, the way that he watches film, the way he prepares himself and looks at who's at what spot in formation, what's the split, taking in the (down and distance) and all those things that come with just being out there playing with your teammates and trusting your eyes, trusting your feet.

"What I've seen of Jaycee, he's got incredible hands. And I've even flirted with the thought of, like, shoot, the end of game scenario, and you got a jump ball, why not put Jaycee out there and try to get up there and affect the game that way too, because of his ability to track the ball and to come up with those catches. But it's all just paying off because of the work he's been putting in."

Canales called it an early night

Canales admitted earlier this week that he got emotionally invested in watching the Buccaneers lose to the Saints. But last night, he went to bed at halftime of their game against the Falcons, which meant he missed the wild finish that put the Panthers in first place in the NFC South at 7-6, a half-game up on the 7-7 Buccaneers.

"I watched the first half and, you know, 8 o'clock kicks here, it's around 10 o'clock," he said. "Got to sleep with the workday in front of me, and woke up and found out what the score was.

"I'll have a chance to dive fully into it, you know, as we go into it next week, but last week was different because we're playing the Saints this week, so I was able to watch that full game and be involved with that part of it as a part of my early evaluation process. But if I'm asking the guys to be focused on this week, I have to as well."

The Panthers call the end of the week "Focus Friday," and that's what Canales was leaning into, saying he didn't have to talk to the team today about what was at stake.

(What's at stake is that the Panthers can clinch their first division title since 2015 with wins against the Saints on Sunday and the Bucs next week. Not that anyone's getting ahead of themselves.)

"Nope, today was our Friday, today was a Focus Friday, and we had to be locked in," Canales said. "Our focus is to make sure we win the day, because that leads to great process, and that's been a part of what we're doing.

"Everybody watched the game. We all, the guys, the coaches, we all watched it, but we also understand that's for next week. We play the Bucs next week. We're playing the Saints this week. We've got to have a focus here. It's going to take everything we have to win this game, and we're gonna get the Saints' best shot.

WR David Moore to come back next week

Canales said they plan to start the 21-day practice window for veteran wideout David Moore.
next week.

Moore's been out since Week 4 with an elbow injury suffered on the first play at New England.

"We're going to try to get David out there next week and open up his window to practice in a mode to see if he can handle being out there running around," Canales said. "He's been running because it's an elbow injury, so he's at top speeds. He looks great, but again, he's going to be blocking. He's a special teams player as well, so we've got to make sure that he's strong enough, stable enough to be ready for the impact."

Moore has played key roles late in seasons for Canales with three teams now (they were together in Seattle and Tampa Bay as well), so getting him back will be a benefit for a young team doing things for the first time.