CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There was little evidence through an 0-2 start the more than $230 million the Carolina Panthers spent in free agency and the draft to upgrade the NFL's worst defense in 2024 was having an impact.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero was taking heat from critics after his unit allowed 53 total points in two games. So was head coach Dave Canales, who proclaimed during training camp the Panthers would be a team nobody wanted to play because of the physical style of football he saw in practice.
Instead, they looked like a team everyone wanted to play.
Then Sunday happened.
The Panthers not only shut out the Atlanta Falcons 30-0, they dominated them in a way that hasn't been seen at Bank of America Stadium in years.
It was the team's first shutout since 2020, against the 5-11 Detroit Lions. It was their most lopsided shutout since 2015, a 38-0 victory against the Falcons.
Few outside the Carolina locker room saw it coming.
"This was what we've been waiting for coming out of camp,'' 2023 Pro Bowl defensive lineman Derrick Brown said. "I feel this is how we executed coming out of camp, the physicality we had during camp. So to be able to come out and put it on display and get the result we got, we're happy about it.''
The Panthers entered Sunday ranked 22nd in total defense, giving up 335.5 yards per game. That won't change significantly since the Falcons had 333 yards of total offense.
But they will take a jump in points allowed (17.6) after giving up 26.5 per game against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Arizona Cardinals, neither an offensive juggernaut.
"We were fed up,'' defensive back Chau Smith-Wade said. "We made a bond. We decided to come out here tenacious and change the subject.''
Smith-Wade helped change the narrative with a 13-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 17-0. Carolina added another interception and a fumble recovery in the second half to finish on the plus side in turnovers for the first time this season.
But it wasn't just the turnovers that made an impression. It was the aggressiveness of Evero on early blitzes to help get his defense off the field. It was not having to play from behind after trailing 20-3 at halftime in each of the first two games -- in large part because quarterback Bryce Young committed four of his five turnovers in the first two quarters.
Young had no turnovers on Sunday.
"It allowed us to play normal football,'' Canales said of not having to play catchup.
Special teams played a factor, too. The Falcons began 10 of 11 drives inside their own 27, eight inside their own 23 and three from the 10.
"We see everything people say,'' Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn said. "After the Week 1 performance they called Coach E out at the end of the game. ... It bothered me a lot. We know how Coach E works, how smart of a coach he is.
"We went out and put out a dominating performance for coach.''
The dominance included holding Falcons' do-it-all running back Bijan Robinson to 72 yards rushing after allowing Jacksonville's Travis Etienne Jr. to break off a 73-yard run on the way to 156 yards rushing in the opener.
They made quarterback Michael Penix Jr. look so bad -- 18 of 36 passing for 172 yards and two picks -- that he was replaced by Kirk Cousins in the second half.
Drake London was their top receiver with 55 yards on five catches.
That allowed the Panthers' offense to play simple, balanced football. Running back Chuba Hubbard, who sat dazed in his locker a week ago after a 27-22 loss at Arizona, had 73 yards on 17 carries as Carolina topped 100 yards rushing (110) for the first time this season.
"I've seen the work these guys have put in from OTAs to camp,'' Hubbard said of the defense he stretches with on a daily basis. "I know what they're capable of. So regardless of the outside noise, regardless of the first two weeks, I know we'll continue to rise here.''
Young's best statistic, on a day when he completed only 16 passes for 121 yards and no passing touchdowns (though he rushed for a score), was having zero turnovers.
"The defense did an amazing job,'' Young said. "That's how they've been.''
But until Sunday, they hadn't seen the benefit of giving Horn a four-year, $100 million extension or signing nose tackle Bobby Brown III to a three-year, $21-million deal, or drafting edge rushers Nick Scourton and Princely Umanmielen in the second and third rounds, respectively.
What has to be more encouraging is they got this performance without defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton (hamstring), who signed to a three-year, $54 million deal during free agency, and outside linebacker Patrick Jones II (hamstring), who got a two-year, $20 million deal.
"I texted E and told him thanks for dialing that thing up today,'' safety Nick Scott said. "And for putting us in a great position, giving us calls.
"We've been making improvements. And so, when we can do that and keep building and start to see guys coming into their own and realize who we are, that's important.''
