Forget about Wednesday . Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young bounced back this morning with a sharp performance against some familiar visitors .
Here are the top takeaways and observations from Thursday's joint practice with the New York Jets :
Aspirations of a bounce-back sophomore campaign for guard Chandler Zavala took a hit on Thursday, as the second-year lineman exited practice with a hamstring injury.
Head coach Dave Canales didn't sound optimistic about Zavala's status.
"So, we're concerned about that one," Canales told reporters of the injury. "Feels like it could be a little bit of a longer deal. And he was doing fantastic in this camp."
Zavala missed time during his rookie season due to neck and knee injuries.
The Panthers are also prepping to be without safety Xavier Woods and cornerback Dane Jackson , both projected starters on defense. Canales provided the following update on the former:
"Xavier Woods' groin was a little bit more serious than we thought. So, he's a couple of weeks. I can't remember exactly how many. But we were really hoping it was just general soreness, but there is a strain in there. So he'll be a couple weeks."
And the latter:
"Dane's was a significant hamstring. So we're looking at six weeks-ish on that."
Three scuffles broke out during the joint practice. Canales spoke about one in particular, where Panthers wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. sparked a mess after flipping his touchdown ball at Jets cornerback D.J. Reed .
"It's dumb football," he said . "We can't have that—guys fighting. We wanna celebrate with each other. We wanna 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.
"And 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?"
Canales later added that he talked it out with Marshall Jr., who had himself a nice showing.
"It's just . . . these are the moments. It's too hard. Football is too hard," he said. "The margins are so tight in this league.
"You can't afford to give the opponent anything. Not the ball, not a penalty, not false starts and pre-snap things, aligning offsides. Those are all the things that marginally, they just add up and they flip the field and it makes it even harder."
After a bumpy Wednesday, Young cooked throughout the session against a talented Jets defense. Canales was asked what he saw from the second-year passer.
"He came out, he was sharp, he was getting us in and out of the huddle, he's accurate," Canales stated. "He just shows . . . that's Bryce. He loves it. When he gets challenged and the stakes rise, that's him. He stays the same and continues to be accurate. I love the way he handled today."
Young also spoke on the performance.
"I liked how competitive we were," he said. "I like how we responded. I think we started strong. I thought that we did a really good job as a unit of . . . I think there was a little lull for us as a unit, and us responding to that. 'Cause there's gonna be lulls throughout the season. We definitely had some points of emphasis to make sure we fight through that."
News, notes and takes from Thursday's joint practice between Panthers and Jets
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers 2024 training camp tracker: Observations and takeaways from Day 15
