CHARLOTTE — The good news was that wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. responded to the absence of Diontae Johnson and made a number of big plays in the joint practice with the Jets.

The bad news was, he also reacted to one of them in a way that triggered the first big fight of the day, leading Dave Canales to talk to him about what he called "dumb football."

Yes, this practice contained multitudes. And compared to last year's version, it went fairly well for the Panthers. But it was still a joint practice, which means work against somebody else gets a little heated.

After catching a touchdown pass in red zone work while being manhandled by Jets cornerback DJ Reed, Marshall got up and flipped the ball back at Reed. The Jets took exception, and Reed ended up retrieving the ball and throwing it at Chuba Hubbard in the ensuing scrum. It was a fairly typical joint practice incident, but Canales made it clear he would have preferred that Marshall left well enough alone.

"It's dumb football. We can't have that," Canales said. "Guys fighting, ... we want to celebrate with each other, we want to make big plays and give the opponent nothing. This is the exact type of stuff that I've been hitting them on, especially going into this practice. He got excited; he made a great play on a really good player. Leave it at that. A great football play. How about we celebrate that?

"So, he and I talked about it out there, and we put it behind us, but it's just, these are the moments; it's too hard. Football is too hard. The margins are so tight in this league. You can't afford to give the opponent anything, not the ball, not a penalty, not anything, not false starts and pre-snap things aligning offsides. Those are all the things; they're marginal, they just add up, and they flip the field, and it makes it even harder. So something we've got to continue to work on getting away from."

Marshall was apologetic, saying it wasn't in his character and it was something he wouldn't do in a game. Then again, this is as close to a game-like setting as you get without beer vendors, so Canales' point stands.

"I was just in the moment," Marshall said. "Like I said, I wouldn't do nothing to hurt the team if it was in a game, but it was just in a moment of excitement, and I leave everything out on the field."

That wasn't the only scrap during the session. Running back Mike Boone was tired of being dragged around by Jets defensive lineman Michael Clemons after a play, and the two exchanged some swings, which led to a bunch of dudes circling up and a lot of yelling.

There was another dust-up after Hubbard was laid out by Jets safety Chuck Clark, and teammates ran to his defense as he was on the ground. (Hubbard was later checked for a knee injury, and the early indications were good.)

But mostly, the "fights" were the standard fare, and Canales wanted to make sure they didn't become a trend that carries into actual games. The Panthers have emphasized finding players with an edge this offseason, but Canales emphasized the fine line that comes with that.

"Push it to the limit, go all the way to the edge, all the way up, tiptoe and teeter on the edge and then come back to us," he said. "Always come back to us, celebrate with us. We don't need to disrespect anybody. It's not even about beating the opponent. That's really not what we're out for. We're trying to compete to find our best football and that's been the message for the group.

"If it becomes about the other team and you throw a ball there, you say something that it's not even about you anymore. It's not even about you having a great day and growing that way. Now it becomes about you trying to beat the opponents and if we have to rise ourselves to certain moments, then what happens when you play a team that you're better than? Are we going to just play to their level, or can we just pursue our best? Can we just push ourselves?"

— Triggering a fight aside, Marshall had a fairly phenomenal day.

They needed it, as Johnson remained out with a mild groin issue, and Marshall stepped into his spot with the starters and produced against a really good defense.

Marshall's day included an impressive touchdown grab past star cornerback Sauce Gardner, among a number of nice catches. He's had his share of moments in this camp, which he hopes to continue to build on.

"It was good, just with the help of my teammates, we just feel like we went out there and showed all the work that we've been putting in through camp," Marshall said. "And, it was just happy to see the success we had today, and now we're just going to keep moving forward.

"I mean, it gave us a momentum to keep going and just keep making plays. That's what we've been doing all camp. So we're just going to continue to do that."

— Canales called the session "an absolute gift," described the energy as "electric," and said it provided the kind of work the Panthers needed. He and Jets head coach Robert Saleh were young assistants together in Seattle, and they spent a good bit of time before the practice catching up alongside senior defensive assistant Dom Capers.

But Canales said being able to work against a team with a similar run/stop-the-run mentality and the personnel to do it (even without star defensive lineman Quinnen Williams, who did not practice) was valuable.

"To me, it was a response for the offense to say, hey, we know we've had a couple of slow starts. We've had also some fantastic practices going into the New England week," Canales said. "And so you take your lumps, you have your ups and the downs, and you just keep moving forward. Keep Pounding, some would say, and you just get to the fundamentals, fix it, show it on tape, and try to have just a really objective look at what's happening instead of getting into bigger things.

"And so I saw the guys just settle in, execute, play really hard and it was fantastic."

— Having two fields going at once doubled the amount of work being done, and there were plays in either direction.

Bryce Young had one of his better days of camp yet, connecting on a number of deeper passes.

In addition to his connection with Marshall, he found David Moore deep down the sideline and Jonathan Mingo coming across the field.

Rookie linebacker Trevin Wallace, working with the ones much of the day with Shaq Thompson limited, picked off Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers near the end zone and took it back the length of the field.

Wallace continues to show up in camp — he's big, and he can move — and the third-round rookie doesn't look out of place among older players.

Cornerback D'Shawn Jamison and safety Alex Cook picked off passes as well.

The Panthers did not exactly get the better of the Jets in last year's practice in Spartanburg, but this one was much closer to even, standing as a positive.

— Speaking of Rodgers, cornerback Jaycee Horn said he worked out with the Jets quarterback this summer in California, emerging with an even greater respect for the veteran.

So seeing a few picks was a confidence boost for the entire defense because he knows what he's working against.

"You just feel untouchable when you're taking the ball away from the offense, especially when you could take the ball away from a guy like A-Rod, one of the best quarterbacks in this league," Horn said. "So, we're just going to try to take that and keep it rolling. He's the best of the best, top of the top. He threw a couple of no-look passes today, and he's just really precise.

"He got us in a two-minute drive, just surgical, the ball down the field quick reads. It showed us what we'll see if we do get to the playoffs and see some of these big-time quarterbacks. We play the Chiefs this year. We get to see (Patrick) Mahomes; we know how they're going to attack. So it definitely helps to go against the top guys."

Horn laughed and said meeting Rodgers in person this summer gave him a new appreciation for his talent.

"That was kind of like my first time seeing him in person," Horn said. "We were training every day, and he's kind of bigger than I thought. He talks a lot of s---, obviously. But he's a good dude for sure."

— Canales said he had an idea what he was going to do personnel-wise Saturday night in the actual game, but the ultimate decision would come down to availability and numbers.

With a significant amount of starters dealing with injuries, that could steer him toward holding guys out again this week (after over 30 regulars didn't play last week at New England), though Canales said this week he'd like to get the starters some preseason time.

"Who's available?" he said. "That's going to kind of dictate a lot of what we want to do."

— Canales was asked about center Austin Corbett having a few low snaps but said he didn't see it as a problem.

"I think he's within the realm of reasonable for really any center league-wide," Canales said. "I've been with a bunch of different centers and different blocks, which puts a little bit more stress on shotgun snaps and pistol snaps. That's something that we continue to work through and it has not been out of the ordinary for like what you would normally see out of a center."