CHARLOTTE — Dave Canales bounced into the interview room the way he always does, excited after one of the hottest practices they've had in weeks.

But it wasn't just the opportunity to sweat; it was the way his team responded to their first win of the season that had him truly encouraged.

"After the game, I found a group come back in on Monday, understanding that we have all this work to do in front of us." Canales said. "But there's a level of confidence to show guys, the work works. And if we stick to our processes and we play our brand of football, our style of football, number one by taking care of the ball and trying to make the most of the opportunities when we have it to take the ball away, what it can lead to. And so that part just allows me to kind of double down on it.

"But this is a really focused group. Starting with Derrick Brown, who was just like celebrating the win. He's like, this is great, we've got work to do. And I love that humility of the group, to be able to look at it, to enjoy it, but say we've got to move on. And we have to have the same type of focus that we have for this game carry over into the next game."

Early win nice, but Bryce Young has moved on

Bryce Young didn't get a win in his rookie year until Week 8, and famously recovered in the second half last year after his early benching.

So beating the Falcons last week was obviously something everyone enjoyed, but he said the fact that it was the earliest on the calendar he's gotten one had no added significance.

"It's a week-to-week league, and we've already flushed last week," Young said. "The only thing we look back on is figuring out we can how we can grow and improve. It's all about the Patriots this week; we're 0-0, we want to be 1-0 this week. That's all that matters, so that's really the mindset."

After early turnovers put them in a hole the first two weeks, the Panthers were able to play cleanly on offense against the Falcons. They finished with 30 rush attempts (including the game-sealing kneeldown by Andy Dalton) and 24 passes, of which Young completed 16 for 121 yards.

"Again, it was good, just feeling like we could kind of dictate some things," Young said. "All phases of the ball really helped with that, and now for us again, we've got to be able to look at the film, see what we can do to replicate it, see what we can do to improve and get better at stuff.

"It's a new week, new opponent, it's going to take everything. So, regardless of how it felt last week, we have to earn the right to be in a good spot for this week. We've always had confidence. We always had a belief within the building. We know what we're capable of; again, it's just on us to execute."

TMac's got hops

Some reports say Tetairoa McMillan still hasn't landed from his jump on Sunday.

Those reports are facetious, but it's easy to see how they arose. The rookie receiver was targeted on a third down against the Falcons on Sunday. Considering the results of some of his other plays during his first three weeks in the league, this 4-yard catch should be fairly innocuous.

But, at least through three games, McMillan has shown an inability to make boring plays.

It was a third-and-2, and McMillan had a choice route.

"(I) wanted to slant, but he walked me off and I had to go outside," shared McMillan on Wednesday. "And Bryce just threw the ball where only I can get it, and like I said, I got to go convert on third down and go make a play."

The play in question saw the former volleyball player hop to go over corner Billy Bowman Jr., and then, mid-air, he seemed to jump again. Bowman, for reference, is 5-10, and at one point, McMillan's knees were level with Bowman's chest.

Tommy Tremble called it a Mario Kart play.

McMillan laughed, "(Tommy) played too much video games."

But while it may not be related to Mario Kart, McMillan does believe the move is a carryover from his time playing volleyball.

"Oh yeah, most definitely, I give volleyball a lot of credit for my successes on the field and just being able to high point the ball and my body controlling the air and all that definitely played a factor in that play on Sunday," said McMillan.

These eye-popping catches have become par for the course with McMillan, who seemed to expand his catch radius every day of training camp and practice. It has quickly created trust in the rookie receiver from his quarterback to the point that Young will leave it to his receiver to make such a play on third down.

"Just want to give him a chance," said Young. "You know, when you have a guy like that, you just want to put in his vicinity, able to give him a shot, and he does all the hard work. Again, that was an amazing catch for me, not surprising at all."

It also wasn't surprising to McMillan.

As far as the Arizona product is concerned, this is why he was drafted: to make plays when asked to do so, regardless of how high he must jump to do so.

"At the end of the day, my job is to make a play, and I feel like I can make any play that I possibly can make, so I feel like no play has surprised me yet.

"You see ball, get ball, and that's all I did."