The Panthers win a win they had to fight for and that means more

It was fun they had to earn the hard way, from what they did on offense to Mike Jackson fending off a fourth-down pass to seal the game. They stretched the definition of “bend but don’t break” to the literal breaking point, and yet somehow it worked.

“The boys just kept fighting; the defense gave us another chance. And I was just so proud of the way we did it,” Canales said. “It’s something we talk about; it's just a matter of finding a way to end it, and sometimes it takes all that time. I’m just proud of the guys, really fired up and excited.”

“It was just a great job by the guys to just have that finishing mentality and I think the discipline of that is you don't judge the outcome of a game based on what happens at the start. And it was a back and forth. “But for the guys to be able to play our calls the way we want them to, and when it comes to playing them, I can't be more proud of being on fire for a group , who just had to fight and scratch and find a way to play defense.

But perhaps the best thing for Canales is that his players are starting to sound like him, especially the leaders, the guys other players rely on in tough situations. The message becomes more important.

Hubbard was exhausted, covered in blood, relieved and grateful. All at the same time. And when he talked about it, you could tell it meant more because of the way it came about.

“Coach Canales was on us from day one. Just continue to trust the process and build that identity no matter what,” Hubbard said. “And we showed our best today and what we wanted to build here. So it feels good to see it come to light. . . .

“I think that's how you want to end the game, obviously in a winning formation, but just knowing that when the game is on the line, the defense gets a great stop at the start and after and puts it on us to get in there.” And everyone is there and has contributed their part. It was definitely a great feeling to just keep going.”