Likewise, Brown said the improvements here — he wasn’t able to take part in last year’s late-season surge since he was on IR — transcend human talent and speak to the kind of project Canales is building here. And it’s no accident that the kind of process-driven mindset Canales preaches meshes with the head-down work of cats like Brown, Hubbard, Horn, and more.
“I just think that guys bought into the process, and you know we’re having a better year,” Brown said, when asked if that was directly attributable to his head coach. “Yeah, I mean it’s definitely that. Like I say all the time, the coach’s message is to get to the team, and then as leaders, you’re supposed to echo his message, while also being able to decipher between the different things.
“Coach definitely leads the way. So, just spending time getting to know him, understanding him, and what he wants out of us. I mean, that’s just been the biggest thing. He’s not a fusser. He’s not going to go out there and go crazy. There’s some things that’ll make him tick, but pretty much lets us govern the team as is.”
And now, that team has reached its first home playoff game in 10 years.
When Capers thinks about this chapter, he can’t help but smile. Yes, it does remind him of the ’90s, when everything was new, and it felt fresh, and the energy in a still-growing Charlotte was palpable. And the fact that second season led to a playoff win here against a heavily-favored Cowboys team, well, there are some parallels. He laughed and said that if the Panthers beat the Rams tonight, and he can’t find the team in the locker room, he’ll know where to look — unlike when his team shocked the Cowboys, and went back out for a lap to thank the fans, leaving him with no one to give a postgame speech to.
