Panthers notebook: Jaycee Horn’s strong return, and the offense’s ‘untapped potential’
Before Donte Jackson can curl up on the couch on Christmas Day with his 5- and 1-year-old daughters and watch the day’s supreme slate of NBA games, the veteran cornerback has a game to play.
On Christmas Eve.
Against a streaky offense with a ton of potential in the Green Bay Packers.
The good news?
Jackson is leading a Carolina Panthers defense that is playing about as well as it has all year. That was evidenced in the team’s performance against the Falcons last week, when the Panthers only allowed seven points and caused two turnovers en route to a 9-7 win.
The Panthers (2-12) enter Week 16 as a group that allows 291.6 yards per game — third-best in the NFL — and one that has only seen an opposing quarterback throw for over 200 yards in a game once in the last eight weeks. (The Bucs’ Baker Mayfield threw for 202 in Week 13.)
The better news?
There’s improvement everywhere — from guys reaching their dominant potential (Derrick Brown), to the unit finding ways to force takeaways (the defense’s only true shortcoming all year), to players getting healthy.
“It’s definitely something that’s been boiling and brewing for a long time,” Jackson said of the turnovers against Atlanta. “It’s also something that we kind of already knew that would happen. We just couldn’t get out of what we do to try to go and chase it. I just think now, hopefully, like everyone likes to say: They come in bunches. So hopefully this was something that just opened up the floodgates.”
One of the main guys getting healthy is Jaycee Horn, one of the team’s top cornerbacks who sustained a long-term hamstring injury Week 1 and made his return Week 13 against the Tampa Bay Bucs. The former South Carolina star and Jackson are good friends, and Jackson has seen how much an already-good secondary has benefited from Horn’s return.
“He’s been great,” Jackson said of Horn, who finished with a team-second-most six tackles and one tackle for loss Sunday. “The ultimate pro. He’s come in and locked back in on the scheme on the defense, like if it was training camp. He’s just all-in on as if he was learning everything over again and just getting back into the swing of things. … He would work his way back in regardless because he’s such a great player. It’s been awesome.”
Bryce Young on ‘untapped potential’
It’s not lost on rookie quarterback Bryce Young that two of his best drives of the season came in the final minutes, in game-winning scenarios, when a win was within the team’s grasp.
That formula played out against the Falcons, who saw the Panthers drive the length of the field thanks to some of the game’s best pass plays and use over seven minutes of clock before knocking in a game-winning field goal.
Young, who’s made a name at all levels for his clutch play, pondered why that was on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of good that you can take from those moments,” said Young, who finished Sunday 18 for 24 for 167 yards and no turnovers. “I’m grateful to be a part of it with everyone on the team. As a unit to step up. … It shows the untapped potential that we have. We shouldn’t have to wait until that scenario — that’s not something that’s going to come up every game.
“So we can’t rely on that. So we see that, and that’s great, but we gotta make sure that drive-in, drive-out, we’re able to do that all four quarters.”
Quick hits
▪ JD Direnzo with a meaningful NFL debut. Direnzo’s family was in the cold and damp Bank of America Stadium stands on Sunday against the Falcons to watch JD’s NFL debut. The rookie offensive lineman’s parents planned on coming to Charlotte that weekend regardless, Direnzo said — and so the news of his activation made his them “so excited,” he said on Wednesday. He added: “They know how hard I’ve been working my whole life toward this goal. And obviously just being in the building is a blessing. But to get activated the week that they’re coming — it just means everything.”
▪ Eddy Pineiro was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week on Wednesday. Carolina’s kicker accounted for all nine of the team’s points, including the game-winning kick, on Sunday against the Falcons. Special teams coordinator and interim head coach Chris Tabor admitted that there wasn’t a ton of fanfare for Pineiro’s award. “You’re only as good as your next kick,” Tabor said Wednesday, tongue firmly planted in cheek, adding with a laugh, “It’s just how it is! I remember last year when he missed the kick against Atlanta, we kept talking about Atlanta after he’d made so many kicks, so that’s why I wanted to just emphasize, ‘You’re only as good as your next kick.’”
▪ Chris Tabor knew the forecast like the back of his hand. The forecast on Sunday against the Falcons played a huge role in Sunday’s contest. And Tabor — ever the special teams strategist — was keenly aware of it, even going so far as to call a timeout before the first quarter ended to have the wind at Johnny Hekker’s back for a better punt. To say this upcoming Sunday’s forecast was at the front of his mind would be an understatement. He knew it like he’d memorized it for a quiz: “63 degrees,” he said. “Partly cloudy with winds light and variable.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 5:09 PM.
